An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2014
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1396531809 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin13965318092021-08-03T06:23:19Z An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India Dasgupta, Rajarshi Environmental Science Heavy metals Sulphur Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Concentrations Background value Vehicles Vehicles constitute one of the most important sources of environmental pollution. Most studies on roadside soil pollution have been carried out in urban areas, where the main fuel used is petrol. These studies indicate that the concentrations of heavy metals associated with vehicular movement decrease with increasing distance from the highway and with depth in the soil profile. In contrast, most of the vehicles that travel along the Manali-Leh Highway in northwestern Himalaya, India are fueled by diesel. The present study assessed the concentrations of the heavy metals (Al, Fe, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Co, Zn, V and Ba), total organic carbon (TOC), total sulphur and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations along this highway. Soil samples were collected from four sites at incremental distances from the highway (0m, 2m, 5m, 10m, 20m and 150m) and from three depths in the soil profile (3cm, 9cm and 15cm). The concentrations of the various elements were measured using X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry and an Elemental Analyzer, while those of the PAHs using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Results suggest that heavy metal concentrations are generally very low compared to those in other published studies. There is no clear relationship between concentrations of heavy metals and either distance from the highway or depth within the soil profile. However, elevated concentrations of sulphur are found in the soils. Cluster analysis was applied to determine the association of various elements in the soil. There are six main clusters, which are interpreted to be the organic, clay, carbonate, iron oxides, sand and silt and windblown deposited fractions of the soil. This indicates that most of the metals are associated with the natural fractions of the soils. Sulphur is found to be clustered with the organic fraction of the soils. PAHs are also found, albeit in very low concentrations compared to other published studies on highways. The main conclusion of this study is that at present, the amount of heavy metals in the soils along the Manali-Leh Highway is very low, but there are elevated sulphur concentrations. High sulphur concentrations can increase soil acidity, which can have important edaphic implications. The strong association of sulphur with TOC, Pb and Zn, as well as a strong correlation between sulphur and PAHs suggests that the regular use of the road by an increasing number of vehicles can contaminate the soil further with metals and PAHs, which may then move up the food chain and directly affect human health. The results of this study imply that monitoring of heavy metals alone suggests that there is no contamination of the soils, but by measuring sulphur, it has been shown that that there is, in fact, considerable human impacts along the highway. Therefore, both inorganic and organic pollutants should be regularly monitored in the soils along this highway. 2014-06-19 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1396531809 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1396531809 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Environmental Science Heavy metals Sulphur Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Concentrations Background value Vehicles |
| spellingShingle |
Environmental Science Heavy metals Sulphur Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Concentrations Background value Vehicles Dasgupta, Rajarshi An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| author |
Dasgupta, Rajarshi |
| author_facet |
Dasgupta, Rajarshi |
| author_sort |
Dasgupta, Rajarshi |
| title |
An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| title_short |
An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| title_full |
An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| title_fullStr |
An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| title_full_unstemmed |
An analysis of elemental and PAH concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the Manali-Leh Highway, northwestern Himalaya, India |
| title_sort |
analysis of elemental and pah concentrations in soils due to vehicular traffic along the manali-leh highway, northwestern himalaya, india |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1396531809 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
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