Testing the Indicative Value of Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements for Concluding on Site Potentials and Risks Provoked by Fly Ash Deposition

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) 2010-12, Vol.46 (6), p.894-907
• Main Authors: Fürst, C, Lorz, C, Zirlewagen, D, Makeschin, F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Air Pollutants - chemistry; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Black carbon; Carbon; Carbon - chemistry; Cations; Coal Ash; Decomposing organic matter; Deposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecosystems; Electromagnetism; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Fly ash; Fly ash deposition; Forest soils; Forestry Management; Heavy metals; Humus; Hypotheses; Incineration; Leaching; Level-I monitoring; Linear Models; Linear regression based modeling; Magnetic permeability; Magnetic susceptibility; Magnetics; Magnetism; Mathematical models; Metal concentrations; Metals; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Metals, Heavy - chemistry; Models, Chemical; Nature Conservation; Nutrient concentrations; Nutrients; Particulate Matter - chemistry; Regionalization approaches; Regression; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Soil - chemistry; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Soil sciences; Soot - analysis; Spatial distribution; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-010-9572-5

The article presents results of testing the indicative value of magnetic susceptibility for fly ash deposition and its effects on forest site properties. Base saturation and concentrations of Ca and Mg were used as indicators for nutrient pools resulting from fly ash deposition. Concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn, Cd and Black Carbon were used as indicators for risks of leaching. The correlation of magnetic susceptibility with concentrations of nutrient, acidic cations, heavy metals, base saturation and Black Carbon was calculated. Additionally, we tested the suitability of magnetic susceptibility as a parameter in a linear regression based model to predict the concentrations of Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Mn, Cd and Black Carbon. We were able to show a positive correlation between magnetic susceptibility and the selected indicators. In contrast to previous studies, we were also able to demonstrate the suitability of magnetic susceptibility to predict the size of fly ash deposition influenced nutrient pools mainly for humus layers, especially for Oa horizons. The spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility showed also a positive correlation with regionalized base saturation. However, because of the data base and other factors impacting the measurement and modeling results, some shortcomings of using a linear regression model must be noted. From these results, we concluded that magnetic susceptibility might be a valuable parameter in a multiple regression based approach, but should not be used alone for predicting effects of fly ash deposition.