Statistische Aus- und Bewertung immissionsbedingter Bodenbelastungen

The contamination of soils with pollutants by human activities has increased over a period of some decades. Deposited pollutants are immobilized in different ways depending on their chemical properties, or they are biologically available. This potential hazard requires a permanent control. An extensive investigation of topsoil in the surroundings of the fertilizer factory at Dorndorf-Steudnitz (Thuringia) was carried out to assess the size and extension of contamination and to estimate the potential risk which originates from the deposited pollutants. The fertilizer factory at Dorndorf-Steudnitz was one of the biggest dust emission sources in the middle part of the Saale river valley. Considerable damages of vegetation could be noticed already in the seventies and eighties. The trees and other plants in the neighbourhood of the factory died. The loadings of the investigated area may be attributed to a direct influence of gaseous and also of dustlike pollutants on the vegetation and resorption from the soil. Frequently, the content of pollutants in soils varies considerably. For this reason a univariate statistical evaluation of the data is not usually adequate. The use of geostatistical methods permits the characterization of the spatial structure of the investigated area and the undistorted assessment of the pollutant contents at unsampled points. The degree and extension of the contamination can be determined on the basis of the kriging estimation. The classification of analyzed features in regard to common sources of contamination can be realized by means of methods of multivariate data analysis.