Case of soil surface chromium anomaly of a northern urban territory - preliminary results

The aim of this paper is to present some results of a soil survey conducted at a northern city in Russia and analysis of origin of spots polluted by chromium. During the survey, 101 soil specimens were taken from different parts of the city using squared grid system with a spatial resolution of 250 m. Two soil specimens were also taken from distant background locations to exclude the influence the pollutant sources. Chemical analysis was performed on soluble and total forms of heavy metals, mineral oil products, as well as other concentrations of parameters were measured. According to spatial distribution of total chromium concentrations, two spots with high level of pollution have been recognized. Mean concentration of total chromium in the spots subgroup is ten times higher than in the subgroup of comparison. It was suggested that the origin of anomalous pollution is not associated with the industrial activity and could not be explained by atmospheric deposition only.