Zygmunt Strzyszcz

Magnetic record of industrial pollution in forest soils of Upper Silesia, Poland

The organic top horizons of forest soils in the vicinity of industrial centers in Upper Silesia, Poland, are characterized by remarkably high magnetic susceptibility. The unusually strong soil susceptibility does not result from weathering or pedogenesis or from deposition of natural detrital ferrimagnetic minerals but is due rather to the influx of anthropogenic magnetic particles contained in industrial dusts and fly ashes. The magnetic particles are iron oxide spherules which originate during the combustion of fossil fuels (brown and hard coals) and during iron or steel production. Heavy metals, such as zinc, lead, or cadmium which stem from the same pollution sources, are often associated with the magnetic and other dust particles and cause soil contamination, which is potentially hazardous for plants, animals, and humans. Because the regional magnetic susceptibility distribution pattern is closely correlated to measured dust fall and largely parallels the distribution of heavy metals, measurements of magnetic susceptibility, which can be conducted easily both in the laboratory and in the field, can be used as a fast and sensitive tool to trace and monitor soil contamination in industrialized regions.

The influence of industrial immissions on the magnetic susceptibility of soils in upper Silesia

SummarySamples of metallurgical dusts and fly ashes from coal power plants and iron works in Upper Silesia as well as soil profiles in the close vicinity of these plants and in Ojcow National Park (ca. 25 km east of the industrial area) have been studied magnetically and mineralogically. The metallurgical dusts and fly ashes are highly enriched in ferromagnetic minerals. The topsoils from profiles collected near the plants have very high values of magnetic susceptibility while susceptibility in the fermentation and humic subhorizons in soil profiles from Ojcow National Park is considerably increased. The magnetic properties of the metallurgical dusts and fly ashes such as frequency dependence of susceptibility, saturation remanence or coercivity are similar to those observed in the top horizons of the soils. They are mostly related to the occurrence of large (multidomain) grains of non-stoichiometric magnetite ranging from 1 to 20 µm. The similarity of the magnetic particles in the soils is taken as evidence of an anthropogenic origin. They are responsible for the high soil susceptibilities in Upper Silesia and in adjacent areas. Some of the magnetic particles carry substantial quantitities of trace elements such as Pb, Ni, Zn and Cu. Field and laboratory susceptibility measurements can therefore be used as a simple and costeffective method of detecting the presence of heavy metals in the soils of this area.

Ferrimagnetic Minerals of Anthropogenic Origin in Soils of Some Polish National Parks

Ferrimagnetic minerals of anthropogenic origin derived from fossil-fuel combustion, appear not only in industrial areas but also in topsoils of areas remote from the main sources of pollution. Mineral magnetic studies of fly ashes emitted by power plants burning hard and brown coal and of soil profiles from some Polish national parks in different regions were carried out. Magnetic parameters of topsoils from national parks are quite similar to those in flyashes. Structure, shape, and magnetic granulometry of the magnetic particles in the fly ashes and in the magnetically enhanced uppermost organic soil horizons point to a common origin. This fact as well as the ability of ferrimagnetic minerals to be transported within dusts or aerosols suggest that ferrimagnetic particles of anthropogenic origin can be responsible also for magnetic enhancement in soils of areas remote from the main sources of their emission. Industrialdust deposition can be easily traced in these areas using magnetic methods, which are very sensitive, fast, and cheap. They can, and should, be used in the future as one of the routine methods of soil monitoring.

Magnetic anomalies of forest soils in the Upper Silesia–Northern Moravia region

Previous investigations revealed a strong magnetic anomaly due to soil magnetic enhancement in the industrialized cross-border area of Upper Silesia (Poland) and Northern Moravia (Czech Republic). Since industrial and urban dusts contain magnetic particles, this soil magnetic enhancement is assumed to be of anthropogenic origin, caused by a high concentration of atmospherically deposited magnetic particles, accumulated in topsoil layers. This assumption is proved by investigations of vertical profiles of magnetic susceptibility along a transect crossing the border area of the two countries. The results show that the population of magnetic minerals in the organic horizon is different from that in the mineral horizons. The vertical distribution of magnetic susceptibility and thermomagnetic analysis suggests negligible lithogenic contribution. The observed relationship between magnetic susceptibility and some heavy metals, confirmed by micromorphological observations and microchemical analysis of magnetic particles separated from the organic horizons of forest topsoil, has proved the usefulness of soil magnetometry for pollution study.

Record of industrial pollution in polish ombrotrophic peat bogs

Abstract Peat contains mostly diamagnetic organic matter, which is a good collector of all kinds of atmospheric dusts and industrial pollution. Ombrotrophic peat bogs are built up above the ground water table, so deposition and accumulation of magnetic particles are not influenced by ground water and the deposited particles remain largely “in situ”. During this study, 6 Polish ombrotrophic peat bogs from different locations have been investigated. Peat cores of about 30–50 cm in depth were taken from every bog. The specific low-frequency magnetic susceptibility was measured along the peat profile in fresh, not dried sample. In most profiles the susceptibility below 10 cm was slightly negative, which is characteristic for clean organic material. Above a depth 8–10 cm the susceptibility starts to increase. Independently of the profile location, the increase is observed in all bogs and according to isotopic (C-14) dating it is connected with the post war industrialisation (1945–1955). The maximum of the magnetic deposition noticed as maximum susceptibility enhancement is observed in a depth of about 5 cm below the surface. In the south-western part of Poland the peat profiles show the maximum susceptibility above 350 ×10−8m3kg−1. The susceptibility decreases in profiles from the central part of Poland to 30–60. In the northern and southeastern part of the country the maximum observed susceptibility is about 10 ×10−8m3kg−1. Hysteresis parameters pointed at anthropogenic ferromagnetic minerals as a carrier of magnetic signal.

Seasonal Changes of Magnetic Susceptibility in Sediments from Lake Zywiec (South Poland)

Lake Zywiec is a man-made lake constructed in 1965 on the Sola River, Beskidy Mountains (South Poland). The lake is the largest one in a flood control reservoir system known as the Sola Cascade. In May and September 1970, separated by a big flood event in July, the lake was sampled for rock magnetic, chemical and granulometric studies. In 85% of the September samples, susceptibility decreases by 10 to 40% compared to the value measured in May. Seasonal changes are also observed in the total Fe content and some heavy metals. A general decrease in Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu and Cr content during the summer season was observed in the whole lake. The content of other metals such as Mn and Ni increased in samples taken in September. The changes observed in the lake sediments could be only an accidental result of the flood or may indeed result from seasonal changes fostered by the flood effect.

Application Of Magnetic Susceptibility of Soils for Identification of Potential Sources of Secondary Dust Emmision in Urban Parks

Abstract Urban forests and parks, besides a recreation function, play significant role in pollution removal by tree canopies. Main sources of dust emissions in cities are industry (steelworks, power plants, coking plants, cement plants) and traffic. The most of dusts, stored in tree crowns, are deposited on soil surface as litterfall (leaves, needles) or are washed into soil by stemflow and throughfall. However, certain amount of dusts can be released into atmosphere as secondary dust emission. The presented studies were conducted on areas of four urban parks and both magnetic and chemical analyses of topsoil were employed. Results show topsoil contamination by heavy metals in urban parks and cumulative role of vegetations (trees) in processes of distribution of air pollution into soil surface. Magnetic susceptibility measurements allow for discrimination of areas for being the potential sources of secondary dust emission in urban parks.