Geophysical and Geochemical Characterization of Solidwaste Dumpsite: A Case Study of Chowa Gujar, Peshawar (Part of Indus Basin)

Nabeel Afzal Butt, Muhammad Younis Khan, Seema Anjum Khattak, Gulraiz Akhter, Yonggang Ge, Muhammad Tahir Shah and Asam Farid
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Nabeel Afzal Butt: National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Muhammad Younis Khan: National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Seema Anjum Khattak: National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Gulraiz Akhter: China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS-HEC, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan
Yonggang Ge: Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
Muhammad Tahir Shah: National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Asam Farid: Arab Company for Laboratories and Soil, Al Khobar 34217, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Open and non-engineered dumping is a typical method for solid waste disposal in most cities of Pakistan. This practice of waste dumping poses a serious threat to the surrounding ecosystem and human population due to the release and transport of decomposed organic matter, i.e., leachate from dumpsite into the groundwater. The present study was conducted over a non-engineered and open dumpsite (Chowa Gujar), located in the outskirts of the highly populated city of Peshawar by using integrated geophysical techniques such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and geochemical techniques. The main goal was to delineate the characterization and depth of buried waste, to map the subsurface extension of contaminant plumes towards agricultural land and groundwater table and the concentration of heavy metals (HMs) in dump and agricultural soil. Geophysical results showed that the thickness of buried waste (predominantly composed of domestic waste) was around 4 m and the leachate plumes have percolated to the adjacent agricultural land. A range of heavy metals (mg/kg) such as Cr (20.5–26.6), Cd (2.6–5.7), Pb (0.35–21.25), Ni (2.5–53.05), Cu (29–68.3), Zn (45.7–77), and Co (18.9–23.2) have been found in the agricultural land adjacent to the dumpsite. The findings demonstrated that combined use of ERT and GPR successfully characterize the buried waste and spread of pollutant plumes spatially and vertically from Chowa Gujar dumpsite. The anomalous geophysical signatures were confirmed by geochemical characterization. The movement of leachate plumes towards agricultural land and groundwater table and the concentration of HMs in soil show that Chowa Gujar dumpsite is a potential source of contamination not only to the surrounding population but also to the agricultural land, surface (Bara River), and subsurface water bodies. In the study region, there is an urgency to take remediation and mitigation measures to reduce the level of pollution created by the dumpsite.

Keywords: ERT; GPR; geochemistry; domestic waste; leachate plumes; heavy metals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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