engleski

Distribution of copper and zinc in the soil of an industrial zone in the city of Garešnica, Croatia

Soils from an industrial zone in Garešnica, Croatia have been analysed by EDXRF and XRD. In the area surrounding two adjacent factories named ‘Bakrotisak’ and ‘Croatia Protekt’, thirty soil sites (depth 5–15 cm) were sampled in December 2007, together with fi ve soil sites from the forest (control samples) situated 0.5 km away. The locality was selected for its periodic, industrially induced environmental pollution which affects nearby streams and fi sh ponds, resulting in occasional fi sh kills in the region. Analysis included the determination of soil mineralogy, total organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, bulk multi-element composition and trace metal levels in leachates (exchangeable fraction). Multi-element concentrations in the control samples constituted natural background levels. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed higher, statistically signifi cant (p<0.001) concentrations of Cu in the soil surrounding ‘Bakrotisak’ compared to the control samples. Furthermore, leaching analysis confi rmed copper contamination of the ‘Bakrotisak’ soil, as shown by the highly signifi cant positive correlation, (the Kendall’s Tau correlation coeffi cient >0.99) between its extractable Cu and total Cu levels. Moreover, enrichment factors of Cu based on Al as a reference element are found to be >2 for approximately 50% samples of the ‘Bakrotisak’ soil, suggesting moderate anthropogenic contamination.

urban soil ; anthropogenic impact ; trace metal leaching ; enrichment factor ; ‘Bakrotisak’ factory ;

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