Diagnosing the Impact of Traffic on Roadside Soils Through Chemometric Analysis on the Concentrations of More Than 60 Me
This study aims to establish the impact of traffic pollution at two parallel roads in the province of Biscay (North of Spain). Soil samples digestions were carried out following the EPA 3051A method and the extracts were analyzed by ICP/MS. A rapid screen
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ntroduction Road traffic is one of the most important environmental problems in many cities. Its contribution to the global emission of environmental pollutants is increasing every year [1]. However, the dispersion of those pollutants is affected by the climatic conditions, placing finally in other areas such as the surrounding soil and water [2]. There are many studies showing the contamination of roadside soils as a consequence of traffic activity [2–5]. Among all possible pollutants originated by road traffic, metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most dangerous ones. While organic compounds can be transformed or degraded by means of the microbial action of the soil in others innocuous compounds such as water and CO2, metals can remain in the environment for a long time [6]. According to the bibliography [2, 3, 5, 7] roadside soils have long been known to contain high levels of heavy metals, Pb, Ba, Zn, Cd and Cu mainly. Well-known road traffic related metal emission sources of concern are brake linings, tyres, road pavement and exhaust fumes [8]. The metals of concern for emissions from brake linings are Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb and Zn. Wear from vehicle tyres is another major metal source, especially Zn and Ba. Tyres have traceable amounts of several other metals, for example Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni and Pb. Metal emissions from exhaust fumes derives from fossil fuels and the aging processes of engines and catalysts. Combustion of leaded petrol was previously the major source. Since January 2000, Pb has been banned as an anti-knocking additive in petrol in the EU. However, there are still some emissions of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and V from fossil fuels [9].
J.A. Carrero (*), N. Goienaga, G. Arana, and J.M. Madariaga Dpt. Analytical Chemistry, Univ. Basque Country (UPV/EHU), P.O. Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain e-mail: [email protected] O. Barrutia, U. Artetxe, A. Hernández, and J.M. Becerril Lab. Plant Physiology, Dpt. Plant Biology and Ecology, Univ. Basque Country (UPV/EHU), P.O. Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain S. Rauch et al. (eds.), Highway and Urban Environment, Alliance for Global Sustainability Bookseries 17, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3043-6_35, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
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There is general agreement that these metals decrease in concentration with depth and with distance from the roadway [2]. Roadside soils may be screened for all constituents of significance as a first step in establishing soil quality criteria for protection of soil ecosystems. In this sense, ICP/MS offers the capability to screen road soil samples for most elements in the periodic table. The aim of this study was to identify traffic-related elements (TRE) in the vicinity of both an old secondary road and a relatively new highway in the north of Spain, in order to perform a preliminary study to know the traffic impact on roadside soils and monitor the contribution of traffic to environmental pollution and risk.
Experimental – Method The study area is a countryside
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