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  • Case study for estimation of the amount of contaminants stored in soil in an industrial area
    1-11
    Views:
    260

    One of the main sources of contaminants in the soil is industrial activity which has become one of the major environmental problems of the last few decades. The development of geoinformatics as well as the introduction of standards and regulations has led to a decreased risk of soil contamination and the cost-effective optimization of remediation activities. Based on the above, the aim of our study is to demonstrate the geoinformation processing of the remediation performed in an industrial area located in the Great Hungarian Plain, with special regard to the estimation of the amount and spread of the contaminants accumulated in the soil. In order to reveal the lithological and hydrogeological properties of the investigated area and the environmental status of the underground areas, we performed a large number of shallow land drillings (115). During the field sampling, 1000–1500 grams of samples were collected from the drill bit and were processed in an accredited laboratory. Based on the concentration and volume models created it can be concluded that with the estimations performed via modeling, we were able to locate the most critical areas from the standpoint of contamination. It was revealed that the focal point of the contaminants accumulated in the soil was in the central part of the investigated area. Furthermore, the model demonstrated the effect of lithological factors, since contaminants tend to accumulate more heavily in cohesive soils compared to porous rocks. The extent of contaminant concentration in the aquifer increased with decreasing depth; however, after reaching the floor clay the extent of contaminant concentration began to decrease. The lithological layer closest to the surface contained the most contaminants.

  • Environment protection and its reflection in the environmental consciousness of the inhabitants in a middle-sized town (Vác, Hungary)
    83-94
    Views:
    53

    Abstract The paper presents the role of urban environmental protection in sustainable development while analysing the factors influencing the environmental consciousness of the inhabitants of a middle-sized town based on a general model, together with the role of environmental consciousness in solving environmental protection problems at settlement level. My particular research focused on characterising the environmental state of Vác, with a population of 35000 people, and on the knowledge and environmental consciousness of the inhabitants. In the course of the representative questionnaire survey, 439 people gave assessable answers. Questions were related to the most significant environmental problems (air pollution, water contamination, sewage treatment, waste management). Answers were compared to the real situation based on measurements. Results revealed that the knowledge of the inhabitants on local environmental problems is better than the national average. In certain relations (water contamination, sewage treatment), however, it is deficient, thus information transfer was studied separately as well. It can be stated that local governments should make greater efforts in order to inform inhabitants. Environmental attitude of the inhabitants can be regarded as good. Based on the general model, I analysed the tasks of the settlement to improve environmental consciousness in order to increase efficiency of urban environmental protection.

  • Human health risk assessment: a case study of heavy metal contamination of garden soils in Szeged
    11-27
    Views:
    40

    The soils of the big cities, owing to the various anthropogenic activities, can be contaminated by
    heavy metals. The surroundings of the roads with heavy traffic as significant metal emitter source can
    be contaminated by heavy metals. The hobby gardens and the vegetable gardens directly along roads
    can be potential risky for people since unknown amount of heavy metals can be accumulated into
    organization of local residents due to consumption of vegetables and fruits grown in their own garden.
    Most metals are well-known to have toxic characters but we have known little what extent these
    metals exert influence on people living directly along road with busy traffic. During our research,
    metal contamination has been investigated in the gardens near the roads with heavy traffic in Szeged
    by measuring of metal contents in soil and plants samples. Enrichment factor has been calculated with
    the help of control soil samples far from roads having heavily traffic. Besides determination of the
    metal content of soil and plant samples, soil properties basically influencing on metal mobility has
    been examined in order to characterize the buffering capacity of the studied soils. The health risk
    quotients have also been determined to evaluate human health risk of the contaminated soils.

  • Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals around the Gold Mine Ore Tailings of Hatti, Karnataka State, India
    35-44
    Views:
    305

    Mining is an imperative segment of the world economy as it contributes socio-economic status of the nations. However, developing countries like India due to lack of high profile industrial techniques and equipment, eluting effluents from the industrial process may contain various hazardous substances which greatly affect the environmental and human health. The present work is aimed with the distribution of heavy metals in and around Hatti Gold Mine Ore Tailing (H-GOT). The results elicit the mine ore tailings are having high-level contaminants of heavy metal than the crop lands of Hatti (Hs), Kotha (Ks), Chikka Nagur (Cs), Tawag (Ts), Lingsugur (Ls) of Raichur District, Karnataka. It was reported that, Hatti Gold Mine ore tailings hold about 41.31±0.49 mg/kg, 2.1±0.31mg/kg, 71.96±3.26 mg/kg, 39.56±1.47 mg/kg and 73.4±2.19 mg/kg of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) heavy metals respectively. While the crop lands metal contamination range depends on seasonal variation. In south-west monsoon farming lands metal contamination order is Hs> Ks>Cs> Ts >Ls, and it was decreased during Post-monsoon. This is the hallmark of the fetching huge amount of toxic heavy metals from mining center to nearest crop lands. The continuous squeezing of these toxic metals could trigger the bio-magnification in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem and it may impact various metabolic disorders.

  • Heavy metal content of flood sediments and plants near the River Tisza
    120-131
    Views:
    46

    The River Tisza is Hungary’s especially important river. It is significant not only because of the
    source of energy and the value insured by water (hydraulical power, shipping route, stock of fish,
    aquatic environment etc.) but the active floodplain between levees as well. Ploughlands, orchards,
    pastures, forests and oxbow lakes can be found here. They play a significant role in the life of the
    people living near the river and depend considerably on the quality of the sediments settled by the
    river. Several sources of pollution can be found in the catchment area of the River Tisza and some of
    them significantly contribute to the pollution of the river and its active floodplain. In this paper we
    study the concentration of zinc, copper, nickel and cobalt in sediments settled in the active floodplain
    and the ratio of these metals taken up by plants. Furthermore, our aim was to study the vertical
    distribution of these elements by the examination of soil profiles. The metal content of the studied
    area does not exceed the critical contamination level, except in the case of nickel, and the ratio of
    metals taken up by plants does not endanger the living organisms. The vertical distribution of metals
    in the soil is heterogeneous, depending on the ratio of pollution coming from abroad and the quality
    of flood.

  • Heavy metal concentracions in the soils and vegetation of the Béke-cave watershed (Aggtelek-karst, Hungary)
    51-58
    Views:
    183

    Our research took place on karstic area in Aggtelek National Park in Hungary. The heavy metal content of soils with three different texture and in the plants of the natural vegetation (oak- , hornbeam-, corn leaves, greenery) were studied. Ratio of total (acid soluble) metal contents and bioavailable metal contents of the soils were calculated. Based on these results we determined the mobility of the metals in different soils. Used the metal contents of the soils and the vegetation we set up a sequence of the mobility of the metals between the soil and the most frequent plant species.