R. Shrivastav et al., EVALUATION OF EFFICACY OF BRICKS AS GEOCHEMICAL MONITOR OF ATMOSPHERIC HEAVY-METAL POLLUTION, Current Science, 69(3), 1995, pp. 272-275
Geochemical monitoring of atmospheric heavy-metal pollution is so far
limited to the use of peat, ice deposits and aquatic sediments as samp
le type, These systems are open, dynamic and easily affected by climat
ic variations, In contrast, bricks, which are more compact, can act as
a better geochemical monitor, Heavy-metal (Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, Pb) analys
is in scores of soil and baked/unbaked brick samples collected from a
large area in and around Agra City indicates approximately similar flu
x in soils and bricks and insignificant fractionation during brick con
struction of these metals. The concentration of analysed metals in the
core of bricks remained unaffected even by substantial amounts of aci
dic/alkaline rain under natural conditions, Thus, the feasibility of a
new, hitherto untested, concept of bricks acting as a geochemical mon
itor of atmospheric heavy-metal pollution has been systematically expl
ored.