Determination of Background Concentrations of Inorganics in Soils and Sedimentsat Hazardous Waste Sites

摘要

The purpose of this paper is to provide scientists investigating hazardous wastesites a summary of the technical issues that need to be considered when determining if a site (i.e., hazardous waste site/area of concern) has elevated levels of inorganics relative to local background concentrations. Issues discussed include selection of background sampling locations, considerations in the selection of sampling procedures, and statistical analyses for determining whether contaminant levels are significantly different on a potential waste site and a background site. This paper focuses on inorganics and, in particular, metals. Radionuclides are not specifically addressed; however, metals with radioactive isotopes (e.g., cobalt-60) that may be encountered at hazardous waste sites are included.