Soil, Sediment, Sludge and Dust Analysis

The Pedosphere
 Pedos means soil in Greek and the term pedosphere is used to denote the soil cover of the
terrestrial part of the earth.
 Pedology is the science of soils, and methods of studying and analyzing soils and soil
processes are an integral part of it.
 Soil is the main component of the biosphere, the vital layer of our planet populated by
various organisms, from tiny bacteria to plants, animals and humans.
 Soil provides a central link between different biospheric compartments.
 Soils are the most characteristic feature of the terrestrial environment, providing a means
of physical support for all terrestrial organisms: plants, animals and humans.
 Soil also supply nutrients required by living organisms. Since plants grow on soil, and
animals graze on it, nutrients and toxic pollutants in the soil may be transported through
the food chain.

Uses\Importance of Soil
 Soils have numerous uses but the most vital is their use for growing crops, without which
no human or animal could survive.
 Earliest human civilizations sprung up when man learned how to cultivate the soil and, to
this day, agriculture is the most important of all human activities, since without it neither
our society, not our race, would be able to exist. Even today, more than 50% of the world
population lives on farms.
 It is impossible to destroy the whole soil cover of our planet; however, it is possible to
degrade the quality of the soil to such an extent that it becomes useless, harmful and even
deadly.
 In fact, many early civilizations died out when the soil cover on which they relied was
degraded to a point where it was no longer capable of sustaining agriculture. Agriculture,
as well as having many benefits, not least the maintenance of adequate food supplies to
feed the world’s population, can also have harmful effects on the environment.

Soil
 Soil is a mixture of minerals (e.g. clay, quartz), water, air and living organisms.
 Soils are formed by the weathering of parent rock and the decomposition of organic
matter (the surface litter layer of dead leaves and twigs, fallen branches, etc.). Weathering
 can be either mechanical (e.g. abrasion, temperature changes) or chemical (e.g.
hydrolysis, oxidation).
 Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soil, and minerals as well as wood materials
through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, water, and biological organisms

Classification of Soil
Soils are classified according the size of the mineral particles
 clays <0.002 mm
 silts 0.002-0.02 mm
 sands 0.02-2 mm
 gravel 2 mm

Soil Pollution
 The human use of soil can lead to its deterioration by the introduction of various
polluting substances, the degradation of soil organic matter and lowering of the fertility
of the upper soil layer due to erosion.
 Degradation of soil organic matter and decreasing fertility due to erosion and overuse
have been problems since the early days of agriculture; however, soil pollution has
become a problem only since the advent of industrialization.
 Physical factors and biological materials can cause soil pollution, but most soil
pollutants are chemical substances.
 Soil quality determines its actual and potential use, e.g. the quality of soil intended for
agricultural use depends on the content of both heavy metals and pesticide residues.
Polluted soil cover may be of little use (e.g. construction).
Maintaining good soil quality and minimizing soil pollution and degradation is of
fundamental importance and deserves the highest priority for a number of reasons:
 To protect our food supplies from toxic substances which can accumulate in the soil
where they can have harmful effects on crops, as well as entering the food chain.
 To protect groundwater supplies, which are an important source of drinking water, from
toxic pollutants which may seep through the soil into aquifers.
 To protect surface waters from being contaminated with agricultural chemicals such as
fertilizers and pesticides, the former contributing to problems of eutrophication and the
latter being bioaccumulated by aquatic organisms and passed down the food chain.
 Major Chemical Pollutants in the Pediosphere

Sludge
 Large quantities of sludge are generated in municipal sewage treatment plants.
 Approximately 1-2% of the wastewater ends up as a wet sludge and about 2-3 L of
sludge are produced per person each day. The total dry solids content of sludge varies
between 0.25% and 12%, and 60-70% of these solids consist of organic matter.
 Sludge is composed largely of highly polluting substances and it undergoes various
treatments at sewage works in order to render it suitable for disposal or reuse.
 Among the more harmful components of sludge are pathogens (viruses; bacteria,
protozoa, eggs of parasitic worms), toxic organic substances and toxic heavy metals.
Concentrations of pollutants can be extremely high, especially for heavy metals.
 Application of sewage sludge to soils
 Application of sewage sludge to soils has been widely practiced for several decades.
 Sewage sludge has been applied to agricultural soils, forest soils and dedicated land
disposal sites. Additionally, some sludge is marketed as a soil conditioner and applied to
vegetable gardens, lawns, golf courses and parks.
 In the US, between 10% and 20% of sludge is composted and marketed for commercial
use. The purpose of sludge application to soil is two-fold:
 To provide a partial replacement for expensive fertilizers, as sludge contains many of the
nutrients required for plant growth.
 To further treat the sludge, as sunlight and microorganisms combine to destroy pathogens
and many toxic organic substances
 Typical nutrient contents of stabilized sewage sludge are: N 3.3%, P2.3%, and K 0.3%.
 In most applications, sewage sludge can provide adequate supplies of nutrients for plant
growth; however, P and K contents may be too low for some applications.
 The suitability of sludge for a particular soil application has to be carefully assessed and
several factors have to be considered, including the chemical composition of sludge,
national and local standards, the type of land use (agricultural, forest, etc.) and other site
characteristics (topography, distance to underlying groundwater, etc.).
 Soil application of sludge is regulated by government authorities in order to avoid some
of the potential problems listed below:
 Pathogens present in sludge could spread disease if there is human exposure.
 Organic matter in sludge could cause odor problems and act as a breeding ground for
flies, mosquitoes and rodents, thus further increasing the potential risk of disease.
 Nutrients (N, P, K) present in sludge may present problems if they are transported to
ground and surface waters. Nitrate contamination of groundwater is of special concern, as
it may end up in drinking water. Nutrients in soil runoff that end up in surface waters may
contribute to problems of eutrophication.
 Toxic substances, namely heavy metals and trace organic compounds, may pose a risk to
plants, animals and humans. Cadmium is of particular concern, as it can accumulate in
plants to levels that could be toxic to humans and animals, but are not harmful to plants
themselves.
 Organic compounds, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, can be toxic to grazing animals.
 Sediments
 Sediments form in water bodies as a result of the gravitational settling of suspended
matter.
 In fast flowing rivers, small particles may remain suspended, while in still waters, most
suspended particles will settle to the bottom
 Considerable sedimentation takes place in estuaries, where there is a reduction in the
river flow velocity due to mixing with seawater and this can result in the formation of
muddy tidal flats
 The surface layer of an inter-tidal sediment has generally aerobic conditions, while lower
layers are anaerobic (i.e. anoxic) due to the depletion of oxygen by microorganisms.
These deeper layers are strongly reducing, and chemical species will be present in their
reduced forms.
 As sedimentation is a continuous process, analysis of sediment cores can provide a
historical record of the chemical composition of suspended particles.
 The depth of the sediment core is proportional to time going back from the present.
 Toxic substances may accumulate in sediments. For example, organic compounds of low
solubility and high molecular mass may be adsorbed onto sediments, where they are
consumed by organisms which feed on the bottom of the water body (mussels, scallops,
fish, etc.).This could represents a potential hazard to humans if these organisms are used
as food.
 Sediments in harbors are especially contaminated with heavy metals,

Dust
 Dusts in the urban environment are of greatest concern because of the presence of many
toxic substances and the potential exposure of children who often play in the streets,
school yards, parks, etc.
 The main source of road dust is the deposition of atmospheric aerosol particles. In the
urban environment these particles originate mainly from road traffic, emissions from
industries, from construction activities and from the flaking of paint.
 Particles larger than 10pm in diameter are deposited quite rapidly to the earth’s surface
under the influence of gravity.
 Major route of exposure to atmospheric aerosols is by inhalation, exposure to toxic
substances in road dust is mainly by ingestion.
 Greatest concern has been expressed about lead (Pb) in road dust, but other heavy metals
are routinely observed in road dust: Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, etc.

Soil Test, Dust Test, Sludge Test

 The methods described in lecture are intended mainly for soil analysis but they are
equally applicable to dust, dried sediment and dried sludge
 Soil tests are widely used in agriculture in order for farmers to determine the amount and
Type of fertilizer (N, P, K, Mg) to obtain high crop yields.
 The most common tests involve Routine Nutrient (N, P, K) Measurements. Soil test
kits and portable laboratories are commercially available (e.g.Hach) for on-site analysis.
For farming purposes, field test are carried out once every 2 or 3 years.
SAMPLING AND SAMPLE PREPARATION
 Sampling of inhomogeneous media such as soils, dusts, sludges and sediments presents
some difficulties, and the sampling programme should be carefully planned from the
outset if representative and meaningful results are to be obtained.
 The objectives of the monitoring programme should be clearly defined as these will
determine when and where to sample, how many samples to collect and which extraction
procedures and analytical methods to employ.
 The depth of soil sampling depends on the aims of monitoring. In studies of agricultural
crop nutrition the top 20-25cm is usually adequate as this is the zone where much of the
root uptake of nutrients takes place.
 Analysis of the upper layers is also relevant in understanding soil interactions with other
environmental compartments and the pathways of pollutants between them. For example,
atmospheric dusts particles, fertilisers, pesticides and sewage sludge are all deposited
onto the soil surface, while water and wind erosion of upper layers can transfer pollutants
to surface waters and the atmosphere, respectively.
 However, samples from the 1ower horizons should also be analysed in order to assess
the migration of substances within the soil profile.
 The time of sampling is an important factor in soil analysis. For example, the availability
of many nutrients such as P increases during the spring and summer months and there is
some evidence that inorganic N levels are higher in the spring