Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Organochlorine pesticides in surface soils from obsolete pesticide dumping ground in Hyderabad City, Pakistan
T2 - contamination levels and their potential for air-soil exchange
AU - Alamdar, Ambreen
AU - Syed, Jabir Hussain
AU - Malik, Riffat Naseem
AU - Katsoyiannis, Athanasios
AU - Liu, Junwen
AU - Li, Jun
AU - Zhang, Gan
AU - Jones, Kevin C.
PY - 2014/2/1
Y1 - 2014/2/1
N2 - This study was conducted to examine organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) contamination levels in the surface soil and air samples together with air-soil exchange fluxes at an obsolete pesticide dumping ground and the associated areas from Hyderabad City, Pakistan. Among all the sampling sites, concentrations of OCPs in the soil and air samples were found highest in obsolete pesticide dumping ground, whereas dominant contaminants were dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs) (soil: 77-212,200 ng g(-1); air: 90,700 pg m(-3)) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCHs) (soil: 43-4,090 ng g(-1); air: 97,400 pg m(-3)) followed by chlordane, heptachlor and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). OCPs diagnostic indicative ratios reflect historical use as well as fresh input in the study area. Moreover, the air and soil fugacity ratios (0.9-1.0) at the dumping ground reflecting a tendency towards net volatilization of OCPs, while at the other sampling sites, the fugacity ratios indicate in some cases deposition and in other cases volatilization. Elevated concentrations of DDTs and HCHs at pesticide dumping ground and its surroundings pose potential exposure risk to biological organisms, to the safety of agricultural products and to the human health. Our study thus emphasizes the need of spatio-temporal monitoring of OCPs at local and regional scale to assess and remediate the future adverse implications.
AB - This study was conducted to examine organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) contamination levels in the surface soil and air samples together with air-soil exchange fluxes at an obsolete pesticide dumping ground and the associated areas from Hyderabad City, Pakistan. Among all the sampling sites, concentrations of OCPs in the soil and air samples were found highest in obsolete pesticide dumping ground, whereas dominant contaminants were dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs) (soil: 77-212,200 ng g(-1); air: 90,700 pg m(-3)) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCHs) (soil: 43-4,090 ng g(-1); air: 97,400 pg m(-3)) followed by chlordane, heptachlor and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). OCPs diagnostic indicative ratios reflect historical use as well as fresh input in the study area. Moreover, the air and soil fugacity ratios (0.9-1.0) at the dumping ground reflecting a tendency towards net volatilization of OCPs, while at the other sampling sites, the fugacity ratios indicate in some cases deposition and in other cases volatilization. Elevated concentrations of DDTs and HCHs at pesticide dumping ground and its surroundings pose potential exposure risk to biological organisms, to the safety of agricultural products and to the human health. Our study thus emphasizes the need of spatio-temporal monitoring of OCPs at local and regional scale to assess and remediate the future adverse implications.
KW - Obsolete pesticide burial ground
KW - OCPs
KW - Air–soil exchange
KW - Hyderabad City
KW - Pakistan
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.09.053
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.09.053
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24184550
VL - 470-471
SP - 733
EP - 741
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
ER -