Environmental Impact Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements in Soils Near the Runway at the International Airport in Central Europe

Martin Brtnický, Václav Pecina, Tivadar Baltazár, Michaela Vašinová Galiová, Ludmila Baláková, Agnieszka Bęś and Maja Radziemska
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Martin Brtnický: Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Václav Pecina: Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tivadar Baltazár: Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Michaela Vašinová Galiová: Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Ludmila Baláková: Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Agnieszka Bęś: Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Pl. Łódzki 4, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
Maja Radziemska: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 159 Nowoursynowska, 02–776 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: The environmental impacts of air transport and air transportation systems have become increasingly important and are heavily debated. The aim of the study was to determine the degree of soil contamination by the potentially toxic elements (Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the vicinity of the airport runway and to evaluate whether airport traffic has had factual toxic effects on airport vegetation. The overall assessment of soil contamination by means of the Nemerow integrated pollution index indicated slight pollution; evaluation by the geoaccumulation index evinced moderate contamination by Zn and nonexistent to moderate contamination by Cu, Ni, and Pb. A significant difference between the take-off and landing sections of the runway was not statistically confirmed. The vegetation risk assessment by means of the potential ecological risk index (RI) showed the low ecological risk, while the phytotoxicity test revealed an inhibition of up to 33.7%, with a slight inhibition of 16.7% on average, and thus low toxic effects of airport traffic on airport vegetation. The results of the linear regression model between phytotoxicity and RI manifested no relation between the two. The outcomes from other studies suggest that the range of elements and the extent of contamination can be highly variable at different airports and frequently affected by car traffic. Therefore, further research on this issue is needed for the more precise determination of the elements emitted by air traffic at airports.

Keywords: air transport; soil contamination; ecological risk assessment; eco-toxicology study; phytotoxicity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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