Laura Paulette

In-situ assessment of metal contamination via portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: Zlatna, Romania

Zlatna, Romania is the site of longtime mining/smelting operations which have resulted in widespread metal pollution of the entire area. Previous studies have documented the contamination using traditional methods involving soil sample collection, digestion, and quantification via inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy or atomic absorption. However, field portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (PXRF) can accurately quantify contamination in-situ, in seconds. A PXRF spectrometer was used to scan 69 soil samples in Zlatna across multiple land use types. Each site was georeferenced with data inputted into a geographic information system for high resolution spatial interpolations. These models were laid over contemporary aerial imagery to evaluate the extent of pollution on an individual elemental basis. Pb, As, Co, Cu, and Cd exceeded governmental action limits in >50% of the sites scanned. The use of georeferenced PXRF data offers a powerful new tool for in-situ assessment of contaminated soils.

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE REGULATION OF THE PLANT PROTECTION AND OF THE PHYTOSANITARY QUARANTINE IN THE EU MEMBER STATES

The legislation, by means of its institutions may and must be put in the service of the interests related to the protection of plants, of water and land ecosystems. The national legislation which has implicitly become European legislation harmonized with the international one, focuses on the protection of the natural environment and of the one created by man, the protection of life on Earth. Within this large context, the intervention of the law maker in most countries is directed with realism toward the new and ever changing challenges in this domain, thus giving birth to a set of State bodies, as well as non-governmental bodies, which are charged with the protection of plants, of humans and of life against the harmful influences of pollution of any kinds.