Analysis of procedures for sampling contaminated soil using Gy's Sampling Theory and Practice

Boudreault, Jean-Philippe; Dubé, Jean-Sébastien; Sona, Mirela; Hardy, E.P.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.03.013

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Samples were collected according to widely accepted procedures (Boudreault et al 2012;Theocharopoulos et al 2001). As a trade-off between economic constraints and the need for a detailed and adequate characterization of soil properties, a reasoned sampling criterion was defined, based on a two-level grid resolution.…”

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical characterization and spatial distribution of PAHs and heavy hydrocarbons in rural sites of Campania Region, South Italy

Monaco

Riccio

Chianese

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, the behaviour and distribution patterns of heavy hydrocarbons and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) priority pollutants, as listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, were evaluated in 891 soil samples. The samples were collected in three expected polluted rural sites in Campania (southern Italy) as part of the LIFE11 ECOREMED project, funded by the European Commission, to test innovative agriculture-based soil restoration techniques. These sites have been selected because they have been used for the temporary storage of urban and building waste (Teverola), subject to illicit dumping of unknown material (Trentola-Ducenta), or suspected to be polluted by metals due to agricultural practices (Giugliano). Chemical analysis of soil samples allowed the baseline pollution levels to be determined prior to any intervention. It was found that these areas can be considered contaminated for residential use, in accordance with Italian environmental law (Law Decree 152/2006). Statistical analysis applied to the data proved that average mean concentrations of heavy hydrocarbons could be as high as 140 mg/kg of dry soil with peaks of 700 mg/kg of dry soil, for the Trentola-Ducenta site; the median concentration of analytical results for hydrocarbon (HC) concentration for the Trentola-Ducenta and Giugliano sites was 63 and 73.4 mg/kg dry soil, respectively; for Teverola, the median level was 35 mg/kg dry soil. Some PAHs (usually benzo(a)pyrene) also exceeded the maximum allowed level in all sites. From the principal component analysis applied to PAH concentrations, it emerged that pollutants can be supposed to derive from a single source for the three sites. Diagnostic ratios calculated to determine possible PAH sources suggest petroleum combustion or disposal practice. Our sampling protocol also showed large dishomogeneity in soil pollutant spatial distribution, even at a scale as small as 3.3 m, indicating that variability could emerge at very short spatial scales.

show abstract

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical characterization and spatial distribution of PAHs and heavy hydrocarbons in rural sites of Campania Region, South Italy

Monaco

Riccio

Chianese

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Only later were QA/QC schemes adopted for environmental purposes, but they are still largely inadequate, because they usually cover only the measurements in the laboratory as a routine procedure and exclude the primary soil sampling in the environment, which is an essential part of the whole measurement chain. An exception are the studies performed by Gustavsson et al (2006) and Boudreault et al (2012). It is a serious problem for QA/QC that, in contrast to industrial production, the natural environment cannot be standardized.…”

Section: Choice Of Parameters and Measurement Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1;2016 Due to missing reference values to determine the sampling bias, in practice the primary sampling bias is usually not taken into account. As a result the overall measurement uncertainty is expressed one to two orders of magnitude smaller than it really is, because by far the biggest measurement errors stem from non representative primary soil sampling (Gy, 2004;Gustavsson et al, 2006;Boudreault et al, 2012). It is a serious shortcoming that in the QA/QC handbook of "Measurement uncertainty arising from sampling" (Ramsey & Ellis, 2007) not one example considers the primary soil sampling bias.…”

Section: Choice Of Parameters and Measurement Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality Assessment of Soil Pollution Monitoring: Focus on Representativeness

Desaules¹

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil monitoring data can be no better than the quality of the monitoring system they stem from. Quality assessment (QA) of soil monitoring requires reliable and comprehensive quality assessment and quality control (QA/QC) schemes including (1) the selection of parameters and measurement quality related to (2) space and (3) time. It can be presented by a synoptic diagram with three axes based on a table with quality criteria. The two major quality parameters are the degrees of resolution (precision) and representativeness (bias), whereas the latter does not yet include parameter selection and soil sampling.As a result the quality of soil monitoring is usually greatly overestimated. This finding is supported by examples and practical recommendations are given. Since full representativeness for the three aspects of soil monitoring is a fiction in practice, their biases have to be quantified completely, continuously and reliably. The most important challenges are to quantitatively assess and control the representativeness of primary soil sampling and to improve it.

show abstract

“…Measurement uncertainty arises from a number of different sources, and potentially at any stage from sample collection to the final reporting of measurement results. Much effort has been put into the reduction and evaluation of analytical uncertainty in laboratory measurements, but there is increasing awareness that sampling uncertainty is often the largest component of the overall uncertainty (Boudreault et al, 2012;IAEA, 2004;Ramsey and Argyraki, 1997;Ramsey and Ellison, 2007;Taylor et al, 2004). Sampling uncertainty can be considered to represent the uncertainty in measurements that arises when a primary sampling process (using the same nominal protocol) is repeated.…”

Section: Estimation Of Measurement Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison betweenin situandex situgamma measurements on land areas within a decommissioning nuclear site: a case study at Dounreay

Rostron

Heathcote²

2014

J. Radiol. Prot.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measurements made in situ with gamma detectors and ex situ measurements of soil samples in a laboratory can have complementary roles in the assessment of radioactively contaminated land on decommissioning nuclear sites. Both in situ and ex situ methods were used to characterize (137)Cs contamination within an area at the Dounreay site in Scotland. The systematic difference (bias) between estimates of the mean activity concentration was found to be non-significant when in situ measurements were interpreted using a linear depth model, based on ex situ measurements made at two different depths. An established method of evaluating the random components of measurement uncertainty was used. The random component of analytical uncertainty in the in situ measurements, made in field conditions, was found to exceed that for the ex situ measurements, made in the controlled conditions of a laboratory. However, contamination by the target radionuclide was found to be heterogeneous over small spatial scales. This resulted in significantly higher levels of random sampling uncertainty in individual ex situ measurements. As in situ measurements are substantially less costly, a greater number of measurements can be made, which potentially reduces the uncertainty on the mean. Providing the depth profile of contaminants can be modelled with confidence, this can enable estimates of mean activity concentration over an averaging area to be made with lower overall uncertainties than are possible using ex situ methods.

show abstract

Analysis of procedures for sampling contaminated soil using Gy's Sampling Theory and Practice

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Chemical characterization and spatial distribution of PAHs and heavy hydrocarbons in rural sites of Campania Region, South Italy

Chemical characterization and spatial distribution of PAHs and heavy hydrocarbons in rural sites of Campania Region, South Italy

Quality Assessment of Soil Pollution Monitoring: Focus on Representativeness

Comparison betweenin situandex situgamma measurements on land areas within a decommissioning nuclear site: a case study at Dounreay

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About