The Dublin SURGE Project: geochemical baseline for heavy metals in topsoils and spatial correlation with historical industry in Dublin, Ireland

Abstract

The Dublin SURGE (Soil Urban Geochemistry) Project is Dublin’s first baseline survey of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in topsoils and is part of a Europe-wide initiative to map urban geochemical baselines in ten cities. 1,058 samples were collected as part of a stratified random sampling programme in the greater Dublin area to give an overview of baseline conditions in the city. Samples were analysed for 31 inorganic elements including heavy metals. Analysis of results indicates that the concentrations of lead, copper, zinc and mercury are strongly influenced by human activities, with elevated concentrations in the city docklands, inner city and heavy industry areas. Sources of heavy metals in these areas may include historical industry, coal burning, re-use of contaminated soil, modern traffic and leaded paint and petrol. Concentrations of other inorganic elements in topsoil show patterns which are strongly related to regional bedrock parent material. The spatial distributions of heavy metals, in particular Pb and As, are explored in detail with respect to regional geology and the influence of historical industry on soil quality. Exploratory data, geostatistical and correlation analyses suggest that the concentrations of heavy metals tend to increase as the intensity of historical industrial activity increases. In particular, drinks production, power generation, oil/gas/coal, metals and textile historical industries appear to be the contamination source for several heavy metals. The data provide a geochemical baseline relevant to the protection of human health, compliance with environmental legislation, land use planning and urban regeneration.

Old and New Threats—Trace Metals and Fluoride Contamination in Soils at Defunct Smithy Sites

“…Our research suggests a link between the activity of late 19th and early 20th century smithies and current trace metal pollution of local soils. These data are in agreement with previous reports in which current trace metal soil contamination is attributed to industrial activity at certain sites [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ] including historic metal processing plants [ 54 ]. Other studies also show the accumulation of heavy metals in urban soils, e.g., in Cracow (Poland), where metal processing plants have been operating as early as the Middle Ages [ 55 , 56 ].…”

“…Glennon et al associate high soil Zn levels with proximity to industrial plants. Zn, and similarly Pb, is emitted into the atmosphere by metallurgical foundries and workshops and then accumulates in surrounding soils [ 54 ]. In our study, the mean concentration of Pb at historic smithy sites was significantly higher than the average for the entire city (31 mg/kg) [ 50 ], demonstrating the negative environmental impact of these enterprises.…”

Pollution status and human health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban street dust of Tyumen city, Russia

“…Basic descriptive statistics included mean, median, minimum, maximum, standard deviation (SD), and coefficient of variation (CV) for all physical-chemical parameters, elements, and compounds. The median value was preferred as a robust measure of the central tendency of the data-set, instead of the mean value because the median was not adversely affected by extreme outliers (Glennon et al 2014). Before multivariate statistical analysis, the data were transformed by Z-scores (i.e.…”

The relationship between historical development and potentially toxic element concentrations in urban soils

“…environments, in the form of fuel burning and waste, can also be large contributors to soil PTE 56 concentrations (Biasioli et al 2006; Glennon et al 2014). 57…”