BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urban farming makes a substantial influence on the household economy of the urban poor especially in developing countries. Urban soil the hot spot of urban farming is a natural sink for contaminants especially the trace elements derived mainly from anthropogenic activities. This study’s aim was to quantify the concentrations of selected trace elements...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of putrescible urban waste for energy recovery has seen rapid growth over recent years. In order to ascertain its systems scale sustainability, however, determination of the environmental fate of the large volume of digestate generated during the process is indispensable. This paper evaluates the environmental burdens to air associated with land applied food-based diges...

A simulated clandestine shallow grave was created within a heterogeneous, made-ground, urban environment where a clothed, plastic resin, human skeleton, animal products, and physiological saline were placed in anatomically correct positions and re-covered to ground level. A series of repeat (time-lapse), near-surface geophysical surveys were undertaken: (1) prior to burial (to act as control), ...

In situ, high-resolution, gamma-ray spectrometry of a total number of 70 outdoor and 20 indoor representative measurements were performed in preselected, common locations of the main urban areas of Cyprus. Specific activities and gamma absorbed dose rates in air due to the naturally occurring radionuclides of (232)Th and (238)U series, and (40)K are determined and discussed. Effective dose rate...

Recent urban landscape vegetation surveys conducted in many cities in China identified numerous plant nutrient deficiencies, especially in newly developed cities. Soil nutrients and soil nutrient management in the cities of Hubei province have not received adequate attention to date. The aims of this study were to characterize the available nutrients of urban soils from nine cities in Hubei pro...

Lead (Pb) concentrations and isotopic compositions from soils, dusts and aerosols from public land and residential lots adjacent to the copper and Pb mine and smelter at Mount Isa, Australia, were examined to understand the sources and risks of environmental Pb exposure. Urban soil samples contain elevated Pb concentrations (mean 1560 mg/kg), of which 45-85% of the Pb is bioaccessible. The Pb i...

In recent years, a significant number of environmental studies have been conducted in New Orleans, LA and surrounding Gulf Coast areas due in part to the occurrence of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Data collected from studies in the New Orleans area indicate that inorganic contaminants including arsenic (As), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), and vanadium (V); high concentration of bioaerosols, particularly...

We used data available from the literature and measurements from Baltionore, Marylan6 to (i) assas inter-city variebifity of soil oqanic carbon (SOC) pools (1-m depth) of six cities (Atlanta, Balbore, Boston, Cbifago, Oakland, and Syracuse); (ii) calculate the net effect of urban land-use conversion on SOC pools for the same cities; (iii) use the National Land Cover Database to extrepolrrte tot...

Concentrations and distributions of cadmium, copper, and lead in soils from several industrialized urban areas of Beijing, China were investigated. The mean concentration of Cd in surface soils was not significantly greater than the regional background concentration, while those of Cu and Pb were significantly greater than regional background concentrations. All soil profiles exhibited a decrea...

soil organic matter has positive consequences eht rof quality and productivityof soil and also environment, agricultural and biological sustainability and conservation ofbiodiversity and soil. organic matter plays an important role in the physical and chemicalprocesses of soil and thus, it is of a great effect on the spectral characteristics of soil. thisstudy was done in order to develop the m...