Assessment of Concentration and Distribution of Contaminants Using Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements

Magnetic properties are used throughout the world to measure the concentration of (ferri) magnetic minerals in soil, sediment and dust. These minerals in soil come from a variety of sources, including air-borne particulate pollution, parent rock and paedogenesis. Changes in the content of magnetic minerals, as well as their spatial and vertical distribution in soil profiles are caused by human activity. Magnetic minerals are distinguished by their affinity for other elements found in soil, such as heavy metal. As a result, magnetic susceptibility has been widely used as an approximation of heavy metal contamination in soil. The current study was conducted in a tropical deciduous forest in Central Uttar Pradesh, namely the kukrail reserve forest in Lucknow to assess heavy metal contamination levels caused by various anthropogenic activities and to confirm the utility of using MS surveying in these types of studies. The current study was conducted at two sites viz. agricultural area and forest area because these sites are the most contaminated ones. Significant correlation between heavy metal concentration and magnetic susceptibility with p<0.005 is noticed for Co, Cr, Pb, Zn, Cu and Fe of agricultural area. Similarly in forest area significant correlation exists between Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn.  The χLF values show a significant correlation with the concentration of heavy metals except for Cu and Cr in forest area and Pb and Zn in agricultural area. In comparison to the methodologies of chemical analysis, the χLF measurement techniques provide us with lower cost and less time consuming method for identification of possible soil pollution.