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Purpose <p>This study evaluates the applicability of magnetic susceptibility (MS) as a rapid, cost-effective screening tool for identifying contamination in soils and coal ash landfill environments. The main objective was to assess whether MS can reliably reflect pollution patterns across sites with contrasting industrial legacies and to examine its relationship with geochemical and mineralogical indicators of contamination.</p> Materials and methods <p>Five sites with different industrial backgrounds were investigated, including two coal ash landfills, soils surrounding an ironworks, a steel plant, and soils near a former alumina factory. Magnetic susceptibility was measured on surface soil samples and compared with multi-element geochemical data, enrichment factors, and mineralogical composition. Statistical analyses were used to explore correlations between MS and individual elements, while combined datasets were used to identify anomalies and contamination hotspots.</p> Results and discussion <p>MS values varied considerably between the sites, reflecting differences in industrial influence, mineralogical composition, and geochemical properties. The highest MS values were measured at the Sisak site, in the immediate vicinity of an ironworks, where strong positive correlations were observed between MS and heavy metals such as Cr, V, Ti, Cd, and Pb. In contrast, soils near the Sulaimani steel plant and the former alumina factory Jadral showed lower MS responses despite their industrial past, indicating the influence of site-specific factors such as contaminant composition or soil mineralogy. The integration of MS data with enrichment factors and mineralogical composition enabled the identification of outliers and contamination hotspots.</p> Conclusions <p>The results confirm that MS, in combination with geochemical and mineralogical data, provides valuable insights into pollution patterns, especially in complex industrial environments. However, the effectiveness of MS as a proxy for contamination was found to be highly site-specific and dependent on the mineralogical composition of both the contaminant source and the receiving environment. The findings support the use of MS as a complementary technique in large-scale environmental monitoring and assessment of contaminated sites.</p>

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Magnetic susceptibility as a rapid tool for heavy metal pollution assessment near coal ash landfills and metallurgical complexes

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月5日

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  • Stanislav Frančišković-Bilinski,
  • Matej Dolenec,
  • Roshna Hamarashid,
  • Ibrahim M.J. Mohialdeen,
  • Željka Fiket

摘要

Purpose

This study evaluates the applicability of magnetic susceptibility (MS) as a rapid, cost-effective screening tool for identifying contamination in soils and coal ash landfill environments. The main objective was to assess whether MS can reliably reflect pollution patterns across sites with contrasting industrial legacies and to examine its relationship with geochemical and mineralogical indicators of contamination.

Materials and methods

Five sites with different industrial backgrounds were investigated, including two coal ash landfills, soils surrounding an ironworks, a steel plant, and soils near a former alumina factory. Magnetic susceptibility was measured on surface soil samples and compared with multi-element geochemical data, enrichment factors, and mineralogical composition. Statistical analyses were used to explore correlations between MS and individual elements, while combined datasets were used to identify anomalies and contamination hotspots.

Results and discussion

MS values varied considerably between the sites, reflecting differences in industrial influence, mineralogical composition, and geochemical properties. The highest MS values were measured at the Sisak site, in the immediate vicinity of an ironworks, where strong positive correlations were observed between MS and heavy metals such as Cr, V, Ti, Cd, and Pb. In contrast, soils near the Sulaimani steel plant and the former alumina factory Jadral showed lower MS responses despite their industrial past, indicating the influence of site-specific factors such as contaminant composition or soil mineralogy. The integration of MS data with enrichment factors and mineralogical composition enabled the identification of outliers and contamination hotspots.

Conclusions

The results confirm that MS, in combination with geochemical and mineralogical data, provides valuable insights into pollution patterns, especially in complex industrial environments. However, the effectiveness of MS as a proxy for contamination was found to be highly site-specific and dependent on the mineralogical composition of both the contaminant source and the receiving environment. The findings support the use of MS as a complementary technique in large-scale environmental monitoring and assessment of contaminated sites.