Showing items 1 - 2 of 2

Your selections:

The unquantified risk of post-fire metal concentration in soil : A Review

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Water, Air, and Soil Pollution Vol. 228, no. 5 (2017), p. 1-33
  • Full Text: false
  • Reviewed:
  • Description: Forest fire is a natural disturbance that occurs in many terrestrial ecosystems specifically in the semi-arid environments and is considered to be an important cause of environmental change. Though many causes of fire are identified, including lightning, volcanic eruption, power line sparks, etc., human involvement is the most significant factor. Fire events are able to alter the physical, chemical and biogeochemical properties of the soil and surface materials and are able to release major and trace metals into the environment. This may be more significant in mining-affected and industrial landscapes, where elevated concentrations of metals present in the soil. After the fire event, metals become more mobile due to the increase in soil surface exposure and the mobility associated with ash dispersal. This mobility may increase the bioavailability of the metals, which may generate water quality issues and may contribute to human and environmental health concerns. Even though, the influences of fire on many soil properties are well established, the behaviour of metals with respect to fire is not well investigated. However, a few studies report that major and trace metals include Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and As are mobilized after fire with increased concentrations in soil and water resources and this might pose a risk to human health and ecosystems. Climate change may increase the intensity, frequency and areal extend of fire events and hence increase the metal concentrations and their potential health impacts. This paper reviews post-fire (wild fire) mobility of metals in soil common in contaminated forest ecosystems. The human and ecological health risks of these metals are also considered. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

Arsenic microdistribution and speciation in toenail clippings of children living in a historic gold mining area

- Pearce, Dora, Dowling, Kim, Gerson, Andrea, Sim, Malcolm, Sutton, Stephen, Newville, Matthew, Russell, Robert, McOrist, Gordon

  • Authors: Pearce, Dora , Dowling, Kim , Gerson, Andrea , Sim, Malcolm , Sutton, Stephen , Newville, Matthew , Russell, Robert , McOrist, Gordon
  • Date: 2010
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 408, no. 12 (2010), p. 2590-2599
  • Full Text:
  • Reviewed:
  • Description: Arsenic is naturally associated with gold mineralisation and elevated in some soils and mine waste around historical gold mining activity in Victoria, Australia. To explore uptake, arsenic concentrations in children's toenail clippings and household soils were measured, and the microdistribution and speciation of arsenic in situ in toenail clipping thin sections investigated using synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe techniques. The ability to differentiate exogenous arsenic was explored by investigating surface contamination on cleaned clippings using depth profiling, and direct diffusion of arsenic into incubated clippings. Total arsenic concentrations ranged from 0.15 to 2.1
  • 1