Baseline data relevant to assessing environmental impact of continued operation of the Teepee Creek gas plant or similar future industrial operations included S concentrations, pH of soil and water, and S isotope determinations. Concentrations evaluated the S loading while isotope determinations identified sources of environmental S. The industrial source was very enriched in ('34)S(delta('34)S=+24 0/00) while soil and vegetation were characterized by ('34)S depletions (delta('34)S values as low as-20 0/00 mean value near -8 0/00). Thus S isotope determinations provided an excellent tool for environmental assessment in the region. It was found that the following are the more significant observations: (1) Neither the pH data nor S isotope compositions of the water or soil samples reveal measurable S loading by the industrial operation. (2) The measured atmospheric SO('2) concentrations are well below permitted air quality standards. (3) Data from an atmospheric sampling array revealed that the directions of highest SO('2) concentrations did not correspond to the direction of the gas processing plant nor did high concentrations relate isotopically to the emissions. (4) In both soil and vegetation samples, increase of S concentration was identified isotopically with mineral layers in the sub-surface and not with the industrial operation. Thus it is concluded that S in the environment surrounding the Teepee Creek gas plant was dominated by sources other than the plant emissions.

The existence of a rainfall anomaly downwind of the St. Louis urban-industrial areas prompted a survey of area soils for elevated heavy metal concentrations. The goals of this work were to measure concentrations of Zn, Cd, and Pb, and to evaluate the role of the urban rainfall anomaly in their accumulation, in potentially-affected soils. Samples from three soil layers were collected from agricultural fields at 21 sites along two NE-SW transects. The samples were analyzed for pH, texture, cation exchange capacity, and total organic carbon, in addition to the three metals. The highest metal concentrations were observed near Granite City, Illinois, and coincided with an area of maximum Zn deposition in rain found in an earlier study. Only slight increases of the metals over background were found in the area of rainfall anomaly. Present rates of atmospheric deposition can account for these slightly elevated metal concentrations. However, the maximum concentrations found near Granity City cannot be accounted for by present atmospheric deposition rates. Other kinds of sources, or larger atmospheric deposition rates, perhaps during the operation of a local Zn smelter which closed about 1960, must have contributed.