Abstract
A blackish, sandy material (‘blackish deposit’, BD) accumulates on highway roadsides. Few years after road opening it may reach several centimeters of depth. Comparison of BD rates of accumulation with reported loads of suspended solids in highway runoff suggests blackish deposits to originate both from suspended solids in road runoff and from aerial depositions. This study of four Danish highways shows that BD is considerably different from the original surface (OS) material. Compared to OS-materials, BD-materials are clearly darker, contain more organic matter(4–8% versus around 1% in OS), have a high and less-variable content of clay and metal oxides, and a slightly lower bulk weight and pH. Similar clay mineralogy points to both BD and OS to be of local origin. Both materials contain lime (calcite). The textural border between BD and OS is also a sharp border between different levels of soil contamination: Zn up to 330 mg/kg in BD versus 19–63 mg/kg in OS, Pb up to 210 mg/kg versus 5–33 mg/kg, Cr up to 250 mg/kg versus 3–10 mg/kg, Cd up to twice as high in BD as in OS, Br and As markedly higher in BD than OS, heavy mineral oils (nC25–nC35) up to 680 mg/kg versus 16–24 mg/kg, and sum of PAH up to 1.4 mg/kg versus < 0.05–0.72 mg/kg. The continuous deposition of organic matter, calcite, metal oxides and clay suggest that BD, in addition to particles, is able to accumulate dissolved contaminants from infiltrating road runoff.
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Jensen, M.B., Holm, P.E., Laursen, J. et al. Contaminant aspects of blackish surface deposits on highway roadsides. Water Air Soil Pollut 175, 305–321 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-006-9140-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-006-9140-z