NORMALISATION METHOD FOR EVALUATION OF METAL CONTAMINATION OF SOIL József PROKISCH, Ildikó SZEGVÁRI, Éva SZÉLES, Béla KOVÁCS, Zoltán GYŐRI University of Debrecen Department of Food Science and Quality Assurance 4032 Debrecen Böszörményi út

NORMALISATION METHOD: a method for calculation of geogenic and anthropogenic origin of metals Environmental Geochemistry And Health 2000, 22(4), pp Yttrium normalisation: A new tool for detection of chromium contamination in soil samples Prokisch-J Kovacs-B Palencsar-AJ Szegvari-I Gyori-Z The measurement of chromium and yttrium concentration could give a chance to detect times less chromium contamination in soil by using the yttrium normalisation method. The principle of the method is the following: elements such as chromium and yttrium exist naturally in the soil in a strongly bonded form. Therefore, in a noncontaminated area there should be a close correlation between the yttrium and chromium concentrations. If the measured Cr concentration in a sample is not on the Cr-Y trend line then the distance of plotted point from the line indicates the amount of anthropogenic chromium. Anthropogenic chromium can be detected only in the case when the contamination does not contain yttrium. This theory was tested in an agricultural-toxicological field experiment where Cr(VI) was added to the soil. Applying the yttrium normalisation method a much smaller anthropogenic effect was detected than by other evaluation methods.

NORMALISATION METHOD: a method for calculation of geogenic and anthropogenic origin of metals

Samples from the Soil Information and Monitoring System (TIM)

During the year two significant pollution waves came from Romanian mines to Hungary and went along the Tisza river causing serious damages to the ecosystem of the river. The first one, cyanide pollution, at the end of January had instantaneous effect on the living system, the second one, heavy metal pollution in March resulted in a long term effect. The heavy metal pollution that arrived with floods, had two results. On one hand, increased water speed decreased the grade of sedimentation in the river bed, and on the other hand, river flooding introduced contaminated water and sediment to the floodplain. After the withdrawal of the flood, a few centimetres of grey sediment remained in the floodplain. Subsequent floods in 2000 and 2001 resuspended and diluted the contaminated sediment on the floodplain. Lead, zinc and cadmium deposition on the floodplain were detected and proven but there was no evidence on the chromium contamination earlier. TISZA RIVER CONTAMINATION

The horizontal samples were taken within a 50 m radius circle in the direction of four points of the compass at distances of 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 m at each site. The surface samples were collected from the 0-15 cm layer of soil.

Samples from control and floodplain of Tisza River comparing to the TIM samples

Comparing the traditional and the normalisation method for the evaluation of chromium contamination of the floodplain

Conclusions: 1.Normalisation method is an excellent tool for evaluation of metal contamination of soil 2.Geogenic and anthropogenic origin of metals can be separated 3.Contaminations can be detect much earlier 4.Good for Cr, Ni, Cu  worth to try!