Open AccessScientists Sift Through Urban Soils
Author(s) -
Showstack Randy
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2010eo190003
Subject(s) - dirt , soil water , rubble , european union , environmental science , environmental protection , geography , archaeology , cartography , soil science , business , economic policy
City soil gets tramped on, dumped on, and pushed around, but some soil scientists are carefully examining what is underfoot in urban areas. During a 3 May session on urban soils at the European Geosciences Union's General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, scientists discussed various aspects of city dirt. In a presentation about the large amount of rubble from buildings that were bombed during World War II, Beate Mekiffer with the Soil Protection Group at the Berlin Institute of Technology, Germany, noted that the sulfate concentration in Berlin's upper aquifer has increased continuously for decades. Many areas in Berlin now exceed a 240‐milligram‐per‐liter “precaution value” for sulfate in drinking water, according to Mekiffer.