Soil pollution indices conditioned by medieval metallurgical activity - A case study from Krakow (Poland)

Joanna Kowalska; Ryszard Mazurek; Michał Gąsiorek; Marcin Setlak; Tomasz Zaleski; Jaroslaw Waroszewski

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.053

Soil pollution indices conditioned by medieval metallurgical activity - A case study from Krakow (Poland)

Environ Pollut. 2016 Nov:218:1023-1036. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.053. Epub 2016 Aug 27.

Authors

Joanna Kowalska¹, Ryszard Mazurek², Michał Gąsiorek², Marcin Setlak³, Tomasz Zaleski², Jaroslaw Waroszewski⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: j.kowalska@ur.krakow.pl.
² Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków, Poland.
³ Department of Physics, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Kraków, Poland.
⁴ Institute of Soil Science and Environmental Protection, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Grunwaldzka 53, 50-357 Wroclaw, Poland.

PMID: 27574802
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.053

Abstract

The studied soil profile under the Main Market Square (MMS) in Krakow was characterised by the influence of medieval metallurgical activity. In the presented soil section lithological discontinuity (LD) was found, which manifests itself in the form of cultural layers (CLs). Moreover, in this paper LD detection methods based on soil texture are presented. For the first time, three different ways to identify the presence of LD in the urban soils are suggested. The presence of LD had an influence on the content and distribution of heavy metals within the soil profile. The content of heavy metals in the CLs under the MMS in Krakow was significantly higher than the content in natural horizons. In addition, there were distinct differences in the content of heavy metals within CLs. Profile variability and differences in the content of heavy metals and phosphorus within the CLs under the MMS were activity indicators of Krakow inhabitants in the past. This paper presents alternative methods for the assessment of the degree of heavy metal contamination in urban soils using selected pollution indices. On the basis of the studied total concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn, Cr, Cd, Ni, Sn, Ag) and total phosphorus content, the Geoaccumulation Index (I_geo), Enrichment Factor (EF), Sum of Pollution Index (PI_sum), Single Pollution Index (PI), Nemerow Pollution Index (PI_Nemerow) and Potential Ecological Risk (RI) were calculated using different local and reference geochemical backgrounds. The use of various geochemical backgrounds is helpful to evaluate the assessment of soil pollution. The individual CLs differed from each other according to the degree of pollution. The different values of pollution indices within the studied soil profile showed that LDS should not be evaluated in terms of contamination as one, homogeneous soil profile but each separate CL should be treated individually.

Keywords: Cultural layers; Heavy metals; Lithological discontinuity; Medieval industry; Pollution indices; Urban soils.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring
Environmental Pollution / analysis
Metallurgy*
Metals, Heavy / analysis*
Phosphorus / analysis
Poland
Soil / chemistry
Soil Pollutants / analysis*

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Phosphorus