Results of our laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and diffuse-reflectance investigations of quartz sand and different soils spiked with Diesel fuel are reported. The LIF calibration functions, which were found to be significantly different for the various matrices, and the limits of detection were determined. For excitation at lambda(ex) = 266 nm, the limits of detection obtained ranged from 7 parts in 10(6) for quartz sand to approximately 200 parts in 10(6) for dark sand with organic matter and for dark peat. Furthermore, the diffuse-reflectance spectra of the matrices in the ultraviolet-near-IR range were determined. An attempt to correlate the slopes of the LIF calibration functions with the reflectances of the matrices is presented. The obtained normalized calibration functions are well suited to take into account relevant optical soil parameters and to reduce the variability of the LIF calibration behavior significantly.

The results of our investigations of particulate materials (aluminium oxide, quartz sand) and "real world" soils (a brown sand and a dark brown soil) using diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopy are presented. The findings are discussed within the framework of Kubelka-Munk (KM) theory as a simplified description of light propagation in highly turbid media. The relation between the KM and the Lambert-Beer (LB) treatment is outlined. The KM parameters determined were the scattering and absorption coefficients (S and K, respectively), and the light penetration depths, dp(KM). It was found that in the UV/VIS spectral range the scattering coefficients of the materials investigated vary by ca. one order of magnitude (S = 6-> 100 cm-1), whereas the absorption coefficients change by more than three orders of magnitude (K = < 1-> 1500 cm-1). The different absorption and scattering properties of the materials lead to strong variations in light penetration depths from the micron into the mm regime [dp(KM) = < 20-> 3500 microns].

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In this paper results of LIF and DR measurements of diesel-friel contaminated natural and model soils are presented. In order to characterize the influence of soil optical properties on LIF signal intensities (IF), the reflectances (R) of the soils are taken into account. It is demonstrated that using "normalized" LIF signal intensities IF/R significantly reduced the influence of the variabiliy of the matrices. For various natural and model soils contaminated with 5000 ppm diesel fuel the ratio IF/R is shown to be approximately constant. Therefore, the calibration with "normalized" LIF signal intensities allows the quantification of a contaminant in different soils.