Journal article
Hydrocarbon and Toxic Metal Contamination from Tank Installations in a Northwest Greenlandic Village
Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark1
Section for Geotechnics and Geology, Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark2
Department of Informatics and Mathematical Modeling, Technical University of Denmark3
Mathematical Statistics, Department of Informatics and Mathematical Modeling, Technical University of Denmark4
University of Gothenburg5
Contamination from tank installations in the Arctic is an important issue, since tanks are a necessary feature of all communities, and may be a source of local pollution. Soil samples from below and around three tank installations and one reference site in the Northwest Greenlandic village of Tasiusaq were analysed for the total content of hydrocarbons (THC), lead, cadmium and organic content in the soil.
Concentrations up to 77,000 mg/kg DW THC were found, mainly as weathered oil products. Elevated levels of lead and cadmium were also found in many of the samples, with concentrations up to 300 and 2 mg/kg DW, respectively. The tank installation areas were contaminated by THC, lead and cadmium compared to the reference site, and parts of the areas were highly contaminated, exceeding the Danish environmental quality criteria.
The correlation between lead and cadmium concentrations was significant (p<0.01), while no correlation existed between THC and organic matter. Small spills from daily use of the tank installations are suggested to be the source of the THC contamination, whereas the lead and cadmium contamination is suggested to originate primarily from the plume of smoke from waste incineration.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Springer Netherlands |
Year: | 2012 |
Pages: | 4407-4416 |
Journal subtitle: | An International Journal of Environmental Pollution |
ISSN: | 15732932 , 00496979 and 15677230 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1007/s11270-012-1204-7 |
ORCIDs: | Jensen, Pernille Erland and Christensen, Rune Haubo Bojesen |