T19 Urban Geochemistry

Sunday, 22 September 2019
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 128AB, North Building

LEAD IN SUBURBAN SOILS NEAR MAJOR ROADWAYS IN NASSAU COUNTY, NY

Paper number: T19-14
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM

Authors

Abstract

We hypothesized that the Lead (Pb) content of soil would decrease with distance away from a major roadway. To test this hypothesis in a suburban setting, several soil samples were collected at three locations in Nassau County, NY: at Hofstra University's student center and at Hofstra University's student garden in Hempstead, NY, and at Crossroads Farm in Malverne, NY. Soil Pb content was measured with a Niton hand-held X-Ray Fluorescence instrument. In all three locations, transects of samples indicate that the Pb content is highest immediately adjacent to the roadway, and Pb content decreases just 2-4 meters away from the curb of the roadway. Since the paint used for road lane lines is known to contain Pb, physical mechanisms that erode and transport this paint seem to be a likely mechanism to explain this pattern. Pb emissions from vehicles using leaded gasoline over several past decades probably contribute to this pattern as well.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 5

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019AM-332900

© Copyright 2019 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.