Study of physico-chemical characteristics of industrial ... · Here the industries like textile,...

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 3, No 1, 2012

© Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4402

Received on May 2012 Published on July 2012 224

Study of physico-chemical characteristics of industrial zone soil - A case

study of Mysore city, Karnataka, India Shivakumar D, Srikantaswamy S

Department of Studies in Environmental science, University of Mysore,

Manasagangothri, Mysore-570006, India

[email protected]

doi:10.6088/ijes.2012030131023

ABSTRACT

Soil is a very important material for plants and as well as animals and humans for their

activity. It is very essential to determine the soil characteristics to know the soil quality. Here

in our study soil sample of industrial area of Mysore city have been analysed for monsoon,

post monsoon and pre monsoon seasons of 2011-12. The pH showed a range of 6.5 to 7.6, EC

ranges from 75 to 88µs/cm. Sodium 1.7 to 7.6mg/kg, Potassium 3.1 to 17mg/kg and calcium

and magnesium ranges from90 to 262mg/kg and 36 to 376mg/kg respectively. It is clearly

indicated that monsoon season soil sample has lower value than Pre monsoon and Post

monsoon season soil samples.

Keywords: Industry, Soil, Mysore, Organic carbon, Organic matter, Fertility.

1. Introduction

In recent years of development in all the fields industries are playing very important role.

Even every country looking towards globalisation through industrialisation. The opening of

an industry gives rise to increase in the economy of the country through creating number of

jobs. The economy of the country depends on the job opportunities provided by industries.

All the industries have been set up in major cities. Due to industrialisation, most of the

biodiversity, soil, surrounded by the industry get polluted and even some times it may be

destroyed. Industries have taken up so many processes. Due to discharge of effluents directly

or after treating to the surface nearby its industrial area soils gets contaminated. Soil pollution

is caused by the presence of xenobiotic and other alteration in the natural soil environment.

Usage of pesticides, leakage of storage tanks, oils etc can cause soil pollution. Dumping of

waste material can leach the toxic substance and penetrate towards soil (1) and may cause

underground water pollution also. Most of the industries, commonly used chemicals for the

production, machineries, treatment petroleum, hydrocarbons, pesticides, lead and other

chemicals could be utilised (2) in effluent treatment plant , treated sludge called as biosolids

could be used as fertilizer to agricultural field. Because treated sludge contains

microorganisms while treatment of effluents. As a final product of effluent treatment plant, it

contains useful and toxic substances. Useful materials like microorganisms and other soil and

toxic substances like pesticides and other heavymetals (3). So it has a controversy to use

biosolids as fertiliser. It may be lead to soil pollution with the use of fertilisers with

heavymetals (4). However roadways and automobiles are now considered as one of the

largest sources of soil pollution. Zinc, Copper, cadmium and lead are four most common

heavymetals released from road travel, automobiles in cities for at least 90% of the total

metal concentration (5). Trace elements are being present usually in small amounts in rocks,

soils, air water and food (6). Some geological parent material including alum shale’s and

Study of physico-chemical characteristics of industrial zone soil - A case study of Mysore city, Karnataka, India

Shivakumar. D, Srikantaswamy. S International Journal of Environmental Sciences Volume 3 No.1, 2012

225

basic igneous rocks contain large amount of trace elements. These originate in to

environment from the natural and anthropogenic sources. Natural process of weathering are

emissions from active volcanoes, sea salt sprays etc. the anthropogenic sources are mining

activities, metal processing industries, fertilizer, fossil fuel combustion, incineration of waste

and treated sludge, application of fertilizer to the crop fields, garbage leaching from dumping

sites etc. an increasing volume and range of heavymetals have been exploited with the growth

of the industry. These process introduce metal contamination through gaseous and particulate

emissions, waste liquids and solid waste (7).

2. Materials and method

2.1 Study area

The study area Mysore is having more than 09 lakh populations and was capital of former

state and 11o6

1 latitude and 77

o7

1 longitude and general elevation is little more than 1800 feet

above sea level. The climate of the city is moderated throughout the year with temperature

during summer ranging from 30oC to 34

oC. The rainy season is from June to October. The

winter season starts from November to February. The source of water for domestic purpose

is mainly from the Cauvery River and ground water. Mysore is having industrial areas, which

have been majorly divided in to 3 regions as follows:

1. Metagalli industrial area

2. Hebbal Industrial area

3. Hootagalli Industrial area

Metagalli Industrial area consisting of industries like tyre manufacturing, aluminium

industries, lighting industry and metal industry. In Hebbal industrial area apart from metal,

lighting etc types of industries small scale industries more in number than Metagalli

industrial area. Hootagalli industrial area is smaller in its size as compared to Metagalli and

Hebbal industrial areas. Here the industries like textile, heavy earth movers manufacturing

industry and very few small scale industries are situated.

In the present study, sampling locations are included in all the Three major industrial areas of

Mysore city. Sampling site from 1 to 5 belongs to the Hootagalli and Hebbal industrial area

and 6 to 10 samples are belongs to different industries of Metagalli industrial area. The

samples were collected during Monsoon, Post-Monsoon, Pre-Monsoon season. The samples

were collected in polythene covers and brought to the laboratory for analysis. The samples

were analysed using standard methods to determine the physico-chemical properties of the

soil and the results were tabulated.

3. Results and discussion

The result of physico-chemical analysis of soil sample is showed in Table 1, 2&3

respectively. The pH range of all the soil samples in all the industrial area are in normal range

of from 6.5 to 7.6 (4). High pH value above 8.5 are often caused by carbonates and

bicarbonates concentration known as Alkalinity (5) High carbonates and bicarbonates cause

calcium and magnesium ions to form insoluble minerals leaving sodium as the dominant ion

in sample.



226

Table 1: Physico-chemical characteristics of Industrial zone soil during Monsoon 2011

pH EC

(µs/cm)

Lime content

(mg/kg)

OC

(%)

OM

(%)

Na

(ppm)

K

(ppm)

Ca

(mg/kg)

Mg

(mg/kg)

P1 6.9 80 2.61 0.412 0.710 4.8 6.8 120 68

P2 6.7 78 1.19 0.1021 0.176 3.7 11.0 116 36

P3 6.5 75 1.72 0.110 0.189 4.1 6.6 204.4 78.1

P4 7.6 87 7.16 0.516 0.889 1.8 3.1 110.7 72

P5 7.2 83 5.96 0.098 0.168 2.9 14.2 90 102

P6 6.9 81 2.49 0.517 0.891 2.7 12.2 172 151

P7 6.8 80 1.51 0.419 0.722 4.0 13.4 96 82

P8 7.1 81 5.10 0.316 0.544 3.7 10.6 98 76

P9 7.4 84 5.45 0.324 0.558 7.6 11.5 141 170

P10 7.0 81 3.89 0.769 1.325 3.9 11.6 152 112

Table 2: Physico-chemical characteristics of Industrial zone soil during Post-Monsoon

season of 2011

pH EC

(µs/cm)

Lime content

(mg/kg)

OC

(%)

OM

(%)

Na

(ppm)

K

(ppm)

Ca

(mg/kg)

Mg

(mg/kg)

P1 7.0 81 2.78 0.406 0.699 5.1 6.9 136 72

P2 6.9 81 1.23 0.101 0.174 3.9 10.8 120 42

P3 6.6 76 1.80 0.108 0.186 4.3 6.8 188 69.4

P4 7.4 85 7.31 0.486 0.83 2.0 3.5 124 78

P5 7.3 84 6.16 0.09 0.155 3.6 16.1 94 126

P6 6.9 80 2.62 0.47 0.8108 3.4 11.4 186 164

P7 7.0 82 3.10 0.38 0.655 4.6 12.3 116 82

P8 7.2 84 5.2 0.287 0.494 4.8 12.7 120 66

P9 7.3 84 5.24 0.31 0.5344 6.4 13.1 178 240

P10 7.2 82 3.94 0.617 1.063 4.2 13.7 166 120

Table 3: Physico-chemical characteristics of Industrial zone soil during Pre-monsoon season

of 2012

pH EC

(µs/cm)

Lime

content

(mg/kg)

OC

(%)

OM

(%)

Na

(ppm)

K

(ppm)

Ca

(mg/kg)

Mg

(mg/kg)

P1 6.86 81 2.96 0.38 0.655 5.6 7.2 142 68

P2 7.1 81 1.38 0.09 0.155 4.6 11.6 138 56

P3 6.71 79 1.96 0.096 0.1655 5.2 7.6 196 78

P4 7.3 88 7.6 0.42 0.72 3.4 6.1 136 86

P5 7.4 87 6.28 0.11 0.18 4.2 17.0 110 140

P6 6.9 82 3.1 0.29 0.45 4.1 12.0 194 172

P7 7.2 84 3.42 0.3 0.5172 5.0 12.6 128 96

P8 7.34 84 5.4 0.21 0.362 5.2 13.1 146 78

P9 7.24 88 5.6 0.26 0.448 6.9 13.3 262 376

P10 7.3 88 4.6 0.49 0.844 4.9 11.9 178 136



227

Figure 1: Seasonal variation of pH Figure 2: Seasonal variation of Lime content

3.1 Electrical conductivity

Electrical conductivity is a measure of ions present in water. The electrical conductivity of a

solution increases with the increases amount of ions. Salinity restricts the availability of

water to plants by lowering the total water potential in the soil salinity also has an impact on

crop physiology and yield with visible injury occurring at high salinity levels. . In the present

study, EC of industrial zone soil shows a range from 75 to 87µs/cm during monsoon season,

76-85 µs/cm in Post monsoon, and 79-88 µs/cm in pre monsoon.

Figure 3: Seasonal variation of electrical conductivity

3.2 Sodium

Sodium is necessary for humans to maintain the balance of the physical fluids system.

Sodium is also required for nerve and muscle functioning. Sodium is an element, that

regulates blood volume and blood pressure, maintains the right balance of fluids in the body,

transmits nerve impulses and influences the contraction and relaxation of muscle. The

minimum requirement for sodium is 500 mg/day (8).

In the present study, the sodium content of all the samples ranges from 1.8 to 7.6ppm in

monsoon season, 2.0 to 6.4ppm in Post monsoon season and 3.4 to 6.9ppm in pre monsoon

season. Comparing with Monsoon, pre monsoon and post monsoon season, the samples of

post monsoon season soils having slightly higher concentration than monsoon and pre

monsoon season, it may be due to erosion of soil by rain and dissolving nature of sodium in

water.



228

Figure 4: Seasonal variation of sodium

3.3 Potassium

Potassium ions are an essential component for plant growth and are found in all soil types.

They are used as a fertilizer in agriculture horticulture and hydrophonics culture in the form

of KCl, sulphate (SO4), and 90% of the potassium is supplied as KCl (9). Heavy crop

production in agricultural field depletes soils of potassium and agricultural fertilizers can

consume 95% of global potassium chemical production (9). Elemental potassium does not

occur in nature, due to rapid reaction rate with water (10).

In our study, the soils industrial area is showing increased quantity of potassium than sodium.

The value in summer season shows comparatively higher than rainy season. It ranges from

3.1 to 14.2ppm in monsoon, 3.5 to 13.7ppm in post monsoon and 6.1 to 17.0ppm in pre

monsoon season. It clearly indicates that the solubility of potassium in rainy season is slightly

higher than in dry season. In rainy season, the potassium occurring in soil will be easily

dissolved in water and eroded off.

Figure 5: Seasonal variation of potassium

3.4 Calcium

Calcium is present in adequate amounts in soils. Calcium is a component of several primary

and secondary minerals in the soil which are essentially insoluble for agricultural

considerations. These materials are the original sources of soluble or available forms of



229

calcium. Calcium is also present in relatively soluble forms as a cation adsorbed to the soil

colloidal complex.

In the present study calcium ranges from 90 to 204.4mg/kg in monsoon, 94 to 188mg/kg in

post monsoon and 110 to 262mg/kg in pre monsoon. It affects on the pH also, in the sense the

cation present in the soil increase the soil pH.

Figure 6: Seasonal variation of calcium

3.5 Magnesium

Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal and seventh most abundant element in the earth crust,

where it constitutes about 2% (11) and ninth in the known universe as a whole (12) (13). Due

to magnesium ion’s high solubility in water it is the third most abundant element dissolved in

seawater (14). Magnesium is a constituent of most agricultural lime as well as specific

fertilizers. Magnesium containing materials applied to the soil may serve two functions such

as nutrient and neutralizer as MgCO3 in soil acidity. Magnesium is a component of several

primary and secondary minerals in the soil which are essentially insoluble for agricultural

consideration. The ionic form is considered to be available to crops.

In the study area the magnesium content is vary from a minimum of 36mg/kg to maximum of

170mg/kg in monsoon season, 42mg/kg to 240mg/kg in post monsoon and 56 mg/kg to

376mg/kg in pre monsoon.

Figure 7: Seasonal variation of magnesium



230

3.6 Organic Carbon and Organic matter

Soil carbon is the last major pool of the carbon cycle. The carbon that is fixed by plant is

transferred to the soil via dead plant matter including dead roots, leaves and fruiting bodies.

Carbon is taken out of the atmosphere by plant photosynthesis about 60 gt annually is

respired or oxidized from soil (15).

Soil organic carbon improves the physical properties of soil. It increases cation exchange

capacity and water holding capacity of sandy soil and it contributes to the structural stability

of clays soil by helping to bind particles in to aggregates (16). Soil organic matter of nutrients,

cations and trace elements that are of importance to plant growth. It prevents the nutrient

leaching and if integral to the organic acids that make minerals available to plants. It also

buffers the soil form strong changes in pH (17). It is widely accepted that the carbon content

of soil is a major factor in its overall health.

The results of organic carbon and organic matter of study area, shows a highest range of

0.769% in monsoon season at sampling station no. P10 and least amount of 0.098% at

sampling station number P5. In post monsoon the organic carbon ranges from 0.09% to

0.617% at P5 and P10 sampling station respectively. The low amount of organic carbon and

organic matter were recorded of 0.09% at P2 and maximum of 0.49% at P10 in pre monsoon.

Figure 8: Seasonal variation of organic matter

Figure 9: Seasonal variation of organic carbon



231

4. Conclusion

It is high time that soil should be construed as part and parcel of urban nature, which has to

be nurtured and cultivated, just like other natural ingredients of a city (plants and wildlife, air

and water). Soil studies, for too long neglected in urban landscaping programs, should be

regarded as an indispensable part of the management regime. A wide variation in the

physico-chemical properties of soil in Industrial zone in Mysore area were found in the

present study. Different samples of soils in Industrial area showed difference in the physico-

chemical characteristics from one season to another season with respect to chemical

characteristics. In the present study, soil sample of monsoon were comparatively shows a

lower values than pre-monsoon and post-monsoon. The present study of physico-chemical

analysis of soil samples of Mysore city industrial area have shown optimum pH in all the soil

samples. Calcium and Magnesium has a lower ranges in monsoon compare to post monsoon

and pre monsoon with a range of 90mg/kg to 262mg/kg and 36mg/kg to 376mg/kg

respectively. On the basis of organic carbon factor, it shows a very low concentration of

0.09%. It is clearly indicated that the soil of industrial area of Mysore city has lost their

fertility. Because soil organic carbon helps the plants system by providing sufficient nutrients

presents in and around that place.

Acknowledgement

One of the authors, Mr. Shivakumar. D is grateful to Special cell, university of Mysore,

Mysore for providing financial assistance during research work.

5. References

1. Synder C., (2005), The dirty work of promoting recycling of America’s sewage

sludge. Int J Occup Environ Health, 11(4), 415-27. PMID 16350476.

2. Joan R.Davenport, Paul H.Milburn, Carl J.Rosen and Robert E. Thornton., (2005),

Environmental impacts of potato nutrient management. American journal of potato

research, 82(4), pp 321-328.

3. Khalid Farooq Akbar, Wiliam H.G. Hale, Alistair D., (2006), Headley and

Mohammad Athar. Heavy metal contamination of roadside soils of northern

England. Soil & water Res., 1,(4), pp 158-163.

4. T.Asano, F.L.Burto,H.L.Leveren, R.Suchihashi and G.Tchobanoglous, (2003)

Wastewater Engineering Treatment & Reuse, 4th

edition, McGraw Hill, New York.

5. T.A.Bander, G.E.Lardon, R.M.Wakson and J.G. Davis, (2004), Irrigation water

quality criteria.

6. Thornton, I., (1996), Impacts of mining on the environment: Some local, regional

and global issues. Applied geochemistry, 11, pp 355-361.

7. Dudka,S, and Adriano,D.C., (1997), Environmental impacts of metal ore mining

and processing : A review. Journal of environmental quality, 26, pp 590-60.

8. The American heart association, January 23, 2009-2010 Dietary Guidelines, pp 4-5.



232

9. Greenwood,Norman N, Earnshaw, Alan., (1997), Chemistry of the Elements (2 ed.)

Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN 0080379419.

10. Holleman, Arnold F., Wiberg, Egon; Wiberg, Nils (1985), Potassium (in

German). Lehrbuch der Anorganischen Chemie (91–100 ed.). Walter de Gruyter,

ISBN 3-11-007511-3

11. L.Bruce Railsback http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/FundamentalsIndex.html

Abundance and form of the most abundant elements in earth's continental

crust. Retrieved 2008-02-15.

12. Housecroft, C. E., Sharpe, A. G., (2008), Inorganic chemistry (3rd ed.). Prentice

Hall, pp 305–306, ISBN 978-0131755536.

13. Ash, Russell., (2005), The top 10 of everything 2006: The ultimate book of lists. Dk

Pub. ISBN 0756613213.

14. Anthoni, J Floor (2006), The chemical composition of seawater.

15. Lal, Rattan (2008), Sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in global carbon

pools. Energy and environmental science, 1(1), pp 86–100. DOI:10.1039/b809492f.

16. Leeper, G.W.; Uren, N.C., (1993), Soil science, an introduction (5th edn ed.).

Melbourne: Melbourne university press, ISBN 0-522-84464-2.

17. Andre Leu, (2007), Organics and soil carbon: Increasing soil carbon, crop

productivity and farm profitability, Managing the carbon cycle Katanning

Workshop, 21-22 March 2007.

Study of physico-chemical characteristics of industrial ... · Here the industries like textile,...

Documents

Transcript of Study of physico-chemical characteristics of industrial ... · Here the industries like textile,...