Heavy metal contamination of roadside soils in the Greater Athens area

The airborne contamination of roadside soils with Pb, Cd, Zn and Ni was evaluated for the Greater Athens Area of Greece. High levels of lead enrichment were found in the upper 0–5 cm soil layer along roads with heavy traffic loads. The central section of the study area appeared to have soils with th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 1987, Vol.47 (4), p.293-304
Main Authors: Yassoglou, N., Kosmas, C., Asimakopoulos, J., Kallianou, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Exact sciences and technology
Pollution
Pollution sources. Measurement results
Soil and sediments pollution
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Summary:The airborne contamination of roadside soils with Pb, Cd, Zn and Ni was evaluated for the Greater Athens Area of Greece. High levels of lead enrichment were found in the upper 0–5 cm soil layer along roads with heavy traffic loads. The central section of the study area appeared to have soils with the highest levels of lead enrichment. The contamination decreased exponentially with the distance from the road edge and dropped to a background level at about 50 m. Most of the lead was concentrated in the upper 5 cm of the soil and was associated with carbonates and crystalline oxides. The main source of contamination was automobile exhausts. Roadside soils were also enriched with airborne Cd and Zn, but to a lesser degree than with Pb. The enrichment of the soil with these two elements fell rapidly and exponentially with distance. No evidence of Ni contamination of roadside soils was obtained.
ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/0269-7491(87)90149-7