Assessment of Nutrient Status of Soil Around Municipal Soil Waste Disposal Site in Çorlu District of Tekirdağ Using GIS

Abstract

Municipal waste repositories in which municipal wastes were stored haphazardly reduce life quality of surrounding environment and generate damages on soils and water resources. The hazardous materials in these wastes stored in those repositories are spread around, accumulated in soils and leached into groundwater. In this study, potential polluting impacts of Çorlu uncontrolled waste repository, which has long been used as uncontrolled municipal waste repository, on surrounding agricultural fields were investigated. Soil samples were taken from the agricultural fields between the water repository and Çorlu creek. Totally 66 soil samples were taken from 3 different depth segments of 22 locations with different distances from the waste repository. Totally 14 plant samples were also taken from different locations. Soil and plant samples were subjected to Mg, K, Ca, P, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn analyses. Spatial distribution maps were generated for macro and micro nutrients with the aid of GIS technology for better comprehension of the experimental data. Present findings revealed that there were not any correlations between the element contents and the distance from the waste repository. Undulated topography and leach outs through spring precipitations resulted in different element concentrations in different locations of the experimental site. Experimental soils had a texture ranging from sandy loam to clay. The locations with greater clay contents had relatively greater element concentrations. According to pollution classification of the soils, Cu and Zn levels of the present samples were below the threshold values. Plant Mn, Cu and Zn levels were also below the threshold values.