2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) persistence in the Seveso (Milan, Italy) soil

Journal Article · Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-6513(89)90076-6· OSTI ID:5050002

Cerlesi, S; Di Domenico, A; Ratti, S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Pavia (Italy)

Preliminary results of a new study on TCDD environmental persistence at Seveso (Milan, Italy) are presented. For this study, the most contaminated territory, Zone A, was divided into areas to fractionate the available TCDD levels in soil into data sets with reduced value spreads. In addition, various time subsets were defined for each area. Selected data were fitted with the exponential model y = y0.e-k.1. It was estimated that at least 1.2 kg TCDD was present in Zone A shortly after the accident. On average, a considerable portion (23%) of this amount lay on vegetation; TCDD which was not photodegraded or volatilized before the heavy rains of fall 1976, was later washed off and transferred to ground by water action. From this study, mean analytical underestimations affecting January 1977 and March 1978 contamination map data were on the order of 30 and 24%. All the above figures are considered optimistic. A few years after the accident, mean TCDD half-life in soil appeared to be 9.1y (t1/2-95% CLs, 6.2-17y).

• OSTI ID: 5050002
• Journal Information: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety; (USA), Vol. 18:2; ISSN 0147-6513
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DIOXIN
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ITALY
LAND POLLUTION
SOILS
CONTAMINATION
HALF-LIFE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
EUROPE
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
WESTERN EUROPE
540220* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)