Medical Geology in Hellas: The Lavrion Environmental Pollution Study

Topsoil pollution as ecological footprint of historical mining activities in Greece

“…The severe contamination with toxic elements, complicates the determination of the natural background and baseline variation of the metal(loid)s in the soils of the studied area. Therefore, concentrations of the studied elements in surface rock samples that were considered as the only natural geological medium of the area by Demetriades () served as background levels. To evaluate the ecotoxicological and human toxicological risk of the considered metals and As, the respective Dutch intervention thresholds were used as reference (Massas, Kalivas, Ehaliotis, & Gasparatos, ; Netherlands MHPPE, ).…”

“…In fact, smelting processes in the area constituted the first heavy industry in Greece and in the Balkans. Smelting continued less intensively until 1989, when all metallurgical operations in Lavrion ceased (Demetriades, ).…”

Geochemical processes during the stabilization of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in contaminated soil by using mineral amendments

“…Granitoid bodies penetrated the basement rocks during Miocene, resulting in (a) contact metamorphism and deposition of skarn-associated mineralization, and (b) carbonate-hosted replacement massive sulfide ore bodies (Pb-Ag-Zn) and veins with barite and sulfides of base and precious metals (Skarpelis, 2007;Skarpelis & Argyraki, 2009). The weathering of the deposited mining wastes within the Lavrion urban area has increased dramatically the PTEs concentrations in the soil with an imminent impact to the health of the population, especially the children, due to the hand-to-mouth behavior (Korre et al, 2002;Demetriades, 2010). The maximum near total PTE concentrations in surface cover of the wider area of Lavrion exceed those found in the urban Athens soils, reaching 1.6%wt Pb, 5517mg kg -1 Zn, 180 mg kg -1 Cu and 30 mg kg -1 Cd, and are associated with nonferrous slag, sulfates and Feoxides (Demetriades, 2011;Argyraki et al, 2018).…”

“…The obtained data were compared to reference concentration values related to each sampling area and the worldwide regulatory limits for contaminated sites. (Argyraki & Kelepertzis, 2014) 2 Lefkosia (Cyprus) urban topsoil geochemistry (AR) (Zissimos et al, 2018) 3 Lavrionn topsoil data (Kalyvas et al, 2018) Geochemical processes during the stabilization of potentially toxic elements in contaminated soil using mineral amendments 113 4 PTE concentrations from the Lavrion overburden (unconsolidated material overlying the bedrock) (Demetriades, 2010) 5 Topsoil concentrations in the wider Stratoni area (four acid digestion) (Kelepertsis et al, 2006) 6 Gardening soil concentrations from Stratoni village (four acid digestion) (Argyraki, 2014) 7 European toposoil mean concentrations (AR) (Salminen et al, 2005) 8,9,10 Alberta (Canada) baselines for natural, residential and industrial coarse soils (AEP, 2016) 11,12 Ontario (Canada) baselines for residential, industrial and parkland soils (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2011) 13,14 Health assessment levels for parklands and residential soils (DEC WA, 2010) 15 Dutch remediation intervention values for soils comprising 10% OM+25% clay (Rijkswaterstaat Ministry of Infrastructures and Environment, 2009) 16 Waste and landfill classification criteria (EPA, 2010).…”

Διερεύνηση Της Έκτασης, Έντασης Και Πηγών Ρύπανσης Συνδεόμενης Με Τους Τραβερτινώδεις Ασβεστόλιθους Στις Νεογενείς Λεκάνες Της Αττικής

“…Διερεύνηση της έκτασης, έντασης και πηγών ρύπανσης συνδεόμενης με τους τραβερτινώδεις ασβεστόλιθους στις Νεογενείς λεκάνες της Αττικής. 28 που συνδέονται με προσχώσεις ή δελταϊκές αποθέσεις, ηφαιστειακές διεργασίες, δραστηριότητα θερμών πηγών ή / και τα προϊόντα αποσάθρωσης των αντίστοιχων αποθέσεων (Argyraki and Kelepertzis, 2014, Davis et al, 2009, Demetriadis, 2010, Gasparatos., 2013, Kampouroglou, 2011, Kontopoulos et al, 1996, Korre et al, 2002, Liedekerk et al, 2014, Nordstrom, 2002, Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002, Welch et al, 2000, Xenidis et al, 2003.…”