The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum

Soils in a metal contaminated site on Stångberget in Gusum in southeast Sweden were investigated and compared to relatively unaffected soils a few kilometres away. Pollution came from historical release of untreated flue gases from a brass mill. The objective was to find information on how high the...

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Autor principal: Almqvist , Hanna
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
sueco
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment 2010
Materias:
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author Almqvist , Hanna
author_browse Almqvist , Hanna
author_facet Almqvist , Hanna
author_sort Almqvist , Hanna
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Soils in a metal contaminated site on Stångberget in Gusum in southeast Sweden were investigated and compared to relatively unaffected soils a few kilometres away. Pollution came from historical release of untreated flue gases from a brass mill. The objective was to find information on how high the metal concentrations are, if metals from the polluted soil affect the surroundings and if the metal contamination affects the microbial community. The soil was investigated using several different methods, such as field XRF measurements, chemical analysis of metal, carbon and nitrogen content, pH, acid neutralizing capacity, texture, soil depth, field leach tests, sequential extraction and microbial functional profiles. The study showed that copper and zinc concentrations were above Swedish Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for less sensitive land use on the entire investigated area. Copper showed the highest concentrations in relation to guideline values, 50 times the guideline in the worst affected sample point, followed by zinc, lead and cadmium, in that order. A pH raising effect caused by the release of metal oxides, that had previously been shown could not be seen and pH on Stångberget was now similar to that of a natural Swedish forest soil. Results could not show that the pH drop had caused increased leachability, instead the leachability was lower than in previous studies. Leaching from Stångberget did not seem to affect metal concentrations in the soil nor be a major source of metals to surrounding soils and waters. Microorganisms from the visibly affected part of Stångberget had an increased specific respiration compared to the reference but the difference between the forested part of Stångberget and the reference area was not as clear even though metal concentrations were severely elevated also in the forested part. The effect on microorganisms could to a large extent be explained by the metal contamination. The size of the bare part of Stångberget had increased over the last 50 years and there was no sign of a decrease.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
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publishDate 2010
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spelling RepoSLU19942012-04-20T14:16:40Z The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum Almqvist , Hanna Gusum copper zinc MicroResp brass contaminated soil Soils in a metal contaminated site on Stångberget in Gusum in southeast Sweden were investigated and compared to relatively unaffected soils a few kilometres away. Pollution came from historical release of untreated flue gases from a brass mill. The objective was to find information on how high the metal concentrations are, if metals from the polluted soil affect the surroundings and if the metal contamination affects the microbial community. The soil was investigated using several different methods, such as field XRF measurements, chemical analysis of metal, carbon and nitrogen content, pH, acid neutralizing capacity, texture, soil depth, field leach tests, sequential extraction and microbial functional profiles. The study showed that copper and zinc concentrations were above Swedish Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for less sensitive land use on the entire investigated area. Copper showed the highest concentrations in relation to guideline values, 50 times the guideline in the worst affected sample point, followed by zinc, lead and cadmium, in that order. A pH raising effect caused by the release of metal oxides, that had previously been shown could not be seen and pH on Stångberget was now similar to that of a natural Swedish forest soil. Results could not show that the pH drop had caused increased leachability, instead the leachability was lower than in previous studies. Leaching from Stångberget did not seem to affect metal concentrations in the soil nor be a major source of metals to surrounding soils and waters. Microorganisms from the visibly affected part of Stångberget had an increased specific respiration compared to the reference but the difference between the forested part of Stångberget and the reference area was not as clear even though metal concentrations were severely elevated also in the forested part. The effect on microorganisms could to a large extent be explained by the metal contamination. The size of the bare part of Stångberget had increased over the last 50 years and there was no sign of a decrease. SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment 2010 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/1994/
spellingShingle Gusum
copper
zinc
MicroResp
brass
contaminated soil
Almqvist , Hanna
The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title_full The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title_fullStr The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title_full_unstemmed The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title_short The legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in Gusum
title_sort legacy of the mill : a metal polluted forest soil in gusum
topic Gusum
copper
zinc
MicroResp
brass
contaminated soil