Atmospheric deposition in an urban area: Implications for assessing the effects of hazardous air pollutants
2011
Bouzonville, Adrien | Elsass, Philippe | Elsass, Francoise | Atkins, Sharon
Pollutants emitted to the atmosphere in urban areas have indirect effects through deposition onto the ground, which, over time, could negatively affect the quality of soil, plants, water and groundwater. In this baseline study, evaluation of topsoil contamination in an urban area of France has been carried out to correlate concentrations observed in the soil with the local air emission sources. The analytical program is an extensive study carried out over a 200 km2 area and the results confirm pronounced anthropogenic contributions to the geochemical background for some metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, and Hg) over the entire area under assessment. In addition, PAH concentrations in topsoil have been noted to be significantly higher around heavily trafficked areas, confirming the contribution of road traffic. The contribution of domestic combustion and industrial sources has also been highlighted with elevated concentrations of dioxins and furans; with some sites in exceedance of current international soil guidelines. The results confirm the significant contribution of anthropogenic deposition from former and present-day industrial and road traffic sources to soil composition in an urban area. The high concentrations of trace metals and other hazardous pollutants in many urban soils in inner-city areas give rise to concerns about potential human health effects through ingestion of soil and vegetables grown locally.
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