Characteristics of Natural and Urban Soils - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 91

Chapter 2
Characteristics of Natural and Urban Soils

Helmut Meuser and Robert H.M. Van de Graaff

Abstract This chapter deals with soils that have been contaminated by human
activities and soils that have inherent contamination due to natural causes, as well as
soils that may be thought of as contaminated, but where the contaminants are part of
the natural geochemistry, they are completely inert and unlikely to cause any signif-
icant risk to life. Contaminated soils have figured greatly in the mind of the public
since a number of dramatic, highly publicised events occurred in which residential
developments on former landfills caused serious health problems for the inhabi-
tants. Logically, the primary focus of studies and inventories of soil contamination
were the industrial lands, from medieval metal processing to modern day manufac-
turing and storage, war zones and battle grounds. Besides, other factors impacting
contamination potential have to be taken into account, e.g. flood occurrences and
ubiquitous atmospheric deposition. There was a need to define background levels
of all contaminants that can occur naturally in the land or could have been added
by humans. Likewise, a need to discover the mobility and toxicity of the contam-
inants was required to develop Risk Assessment. Finally, chemical affinities and
solubilities of several contaminant groups are discussed.

Contents

2.1 Soils of Contaminated Sites .................................. 92

2.1.1 Natural and Anthropogenic Soils ........................... 92

2.1.2 Imported Filling Materials ............................... 96

2.2 Inherited Geochemistry .....................................

97

2.3 Contaminant Behaviour in Soils ................................

105

2.3.1 Chemical Affinities and Solubilities ......................... 105

2.3.2 Adsorptive Behaviour and Specific Surface Areas ................. 113