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South African Journal of Chemistry
On-line version ISSN 1996-840X
Print version ISSN 0379-4350
Abstract
SEHUBE, Nicholas et al. Lead pollution of shooting range soils. S.Afr.j.chem. (Online) [online]. 2017, vol.70, pp.21-28. ISSN 1996-840X. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/0379-4350/2017/v70a4.
A total of eight military shooting ranges were used for this study. Soil samples were collected at each of the eight shooting ranges at the berm, target line, 50 and 100 m from berm. In all of the shooting ranges investigated the highest total lead (Pb) concentrations were found in the berm soils. Elevated Pb concentrations of 38 406.87 mg kg-1 were found in the berm soils of TAB shooting range. Most of the shooting range soils contained high levels of Pb in the range above 2000 mg kg-1 far exceeding the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) critical value of 400 mg kg-1. The predominant weathering products in these shooting ranges were cerussite (PbCO3) and hydrocerussite (Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2). The Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) Pb concentrations exceeded the USEPA 0.015 mg kg-1 critical level of hazardous waste indicating possible contamination of surface and groundwater.
Keywords : Soil pollution; Pb; berm; ammunition; shooting range.