Soil Sampling
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Soil Sampling Articles
Below is a list of articles that have been published on this topic.
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Soil Moisture Sensors and Applications [Jun 2010]
Conserving irrigation water, assessing water catchments and controlling diffuse environmental pollution at source
A considerable amount of water enters the soil through rainfall or irrigation and is removed by drainage, surface evaporation and plant root uptake. The balance of these flows determines the soil moisture status, which varies dynamically over time and down the soil profile. It is critical to all aspects of life, from food production to ecosystem diversity and from the playability of grass sports surfaces, to the spread of environmental pollutants. Increasingly, continuous monitoring of soil moisture is required for conserving irrigation water, assessing water catchments and controlling diffuse environmental pollution at source.
Enviromental Land Remediation [Mar 2010]
Identifying and treating contaminated land and groundwater.
The industrial legacy of the United Kingdom and some current industrial activity has left large areas of land contaminated in the UK and the contamination which has been introduced into the soil poses a risk to the wider environment, human health and natural resources such as groundwater. A very large proportion of our drinking water is pumped form aquifers beneath our feet and this water can be rendered unfit for consumption by trace quantities of some contaminants, some of these contaminants, such a chlorinated hydrocarbons can originate from apparently innocuous places as dry cleaning businesses. Other facilities such as petrol filling stations can leak contaminants into the ground for many years unnoticed.
Soil Analysis - Determination of different carbon species in soil by high temperature combustion [Mar 2010]
For waste management as well as for geological and environmental research the knowledge of the carbon content alone might be insufficient. Very often a more detailed information about the different species of carbon is required. The most important species are inorganic carbon (TIC), organic carbon (TOC) and sometimes black or elemental carbon (EC). Whereas TIC and TOC are widely known and covered by different international standards [1,], the black carbon is still a parameter under investigation. Several techniques are in use to measure the EC separately from TIC and TOC [2]. High temperature treatment of the sample can help to distinguish between these parameters.
Methods of Soil Analysis - A summary of some of the many methods of soil analysis [Dec 2009]
Soils are an extremely complex matrix to analyse, particularly on contaminated sites - the actual soil matrix can vary from a sand (silica) to limestone (calcium carbonate) to clay (complexed minerals), or a mixture of many. In addition to this, the range of contaminants varies from fairly innocuous construction materials to toxic gasworks waste to highly toxic pharmaceutical waste/ mercury/explosives, etc.
Contaminated Soils [Sep 2009]
Expanding the potential of biomass crop production: reusing brownfield sites and biodegradable wastes
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Heavy Metal Pollution of Soil [Jun 2009]
The determination of metals in soil through on-site and laboratory analysis
Soil and its uses have been neglected or have been taken for granted for centuries. The human race has been disposing of waste via the soil for as long as we have been on the earth.
Spectroscopic Techniques [Jun 2009]
Nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.)
Introduction
In n.m.r. a radio frequency is applied to the substance of interest together with a progressively increasing magnetic field. When the magnetic field is such that the separation of the energy levels it induces corresponds to the energy of a photon of the applied radiation there will be absorption of the radiation and therefore a signal. Nuclei in chemical compounds are not ‘bare’, and the molecular environment of a nucleus influences the spacing of the energy levels and hence the magnitude of the field at which a signal will occur. This is called chemical shift and is of the order of parts per million of the applied field.
Soil Sampling of Contaminated Land [Mar 2009]
Sample selection, handling, transportation and storage
Site investigation and risk assessment have evolved into a major industry over the last two decades, with little legislation or guidance in the earlier years. The errors associated with sampling are now better documented, and any environmental consultant or site contractor needs to be well aware of the large differences which can result from poor site investigation design, and incorrect procedures on site, particularly with respect to sample selection, handling, transportation and storage. The assessment of potential contamination within a site is of critical importance for the future use of the site, predicting the cost of possible remediation, and the re-sale value. One of the main drivers for site investigation is SPOSH - ‘the significant possibility of significant harm’ being caused by the presence of contamination on the site.
Contaminated Soils [Sep 2007]
Are they a waste or a re-usable material?
Across Europe, the management of contaminated soils by landfilling is being replaced by recovery/reuse. This is due amongst other things to the Landfill Directive and its waste treatment and acceptance criteria (WAC; EU Council Decision 2003/33/EC), the limited number of hazardous landfills, and the taxing of landfilling. Site owners and their consultants now pay more attention to the reduction in waste soil volumes and the classification of waste soils to minimise the quantity of waste (some of which may be hazardous), but not always to good effect. Misclassification of waste is still ongoing and methodologies to deal with soil classification are misunderstood. However, soil re-use can be well managed in countries with practical legislation such as the Flanders VLAREBO Decree, which allows re-use as building material. More recent waste guidance documents such as those issued by the UK EA (2004a) allow logical characterisation of soils and assessment for re-use. Nevertheless, the management of land contamination and its contaminated soils, either in the ground, or excavated as a stockpile, are made more difficult by the debate arising from the ‘Van de Walle’ case ECJ (C-1/03).
Sampling Soil From our Fragile Earth [Sep 2007]
XRF spectrometry is making a significant contribution to help Antarctica
The remediation of contaminated soils in Antarctica is conducted under the auspices of the Antarctic Treaty Committee for Environmental Protection. Scientists representing many governments are participating in the program. This article outlines the impact of human activity on the continent and provides an insight into how X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry is being used on-site by analysts from the Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment and Water Resources to direct and monitor the progress of the clean-up at an old research station in East Antarctica.
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Equipment Protection Management, Chemical Protection, Frequency Monitoring, Arm and Hand Protection, Gas Detection, Soil Analysis, Soil Testing
Putting Smart Molecules to Work [Jun 2007]
A nanotechnology to predict bioremediation potential
For the past six years Alcontrol Laboratories have been working in collaboration with The University of East Anglia and Lancaster University (within the DTI LINK Bioremediation Programme) to establish and validate laboratory methods to assess bioremediation potential of contaminated land. This work has now validated a method that, through the application of ‘smart molecules’, can be used to extract contaminants from soil in a way that reflects their microbial bioaccessibility.
