Measurements of the magnetic properties and total contents of Cu, Cd, Pb and Fe in 30 automobile emission par-ticulate samples indicated the presence of magnetic particles in them. The values of frequency dependent susceptibility (χfd) showed the absence of superparamagnetic (SP) grains in the samples. The IRM20 mT (isothermal remanent magnetization at 20 mT) being linearly proportional to SIRM (saturation isothermal remanent magnetization) (R2=0.901), suggested that ferrimagnetic minerals were responsible for the magnetic properties of automobile emission particulates. The average contents of Cu, Cd, Pb and Fe in automobile emission particulates were 95.83, 22.14, 30.58 and 34727.31 mg/kg, respectively. Significant positive correla-tions exist between the magnetic parameters and the contents of Pb, Cu and Fe. The magnetic parameters of automobile emission particulates reflecting concentration of magnetic particles increased linearly with increase of Pb and Cu content, showed that the magnetic measurement could be used as a preliminary index for detection of Pb and Cu pollution.
Concentrations of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) and various magnetic parameters in contaminated urban roadside soils were investigated using chemical analysis and magnetic measurements. The results revealed highly elevated Cu and Zn concentrations as well as magnetic susceptibility in the roadside soils. The mean concentrations of Cu and Zn in these roadside soils were almost twice those in average Chinese soils, with the mean magnetic susceptibility of the roadside soils reaching about 179 × 10-8 m3 kg-1. This enhanced magnetic susceptibility was attributed to the presence of anthro-pogenic soft ferrimagnetic particles. A low frequency-dependent susceptibility (2.5% ± 1.0%) observed in the roadside soils indicated the coarse multidomain (MD) ferrimagnetic grains to be the dominant contributor to magnetic susceptibility. The Cu and Zn concentration of the soils had highly significant linear correlations with magnetic susceptibility (P ≤ 0.01), anhysteretic remanent magnetization (P ≤ 0.01), and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (P ≤ 0.01). This suggested that heavy metals were associated with ferrimagnetic particles in soils, which were attributed to input of traffc emissions and industrial activities. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectra of magnetic extracts of the roadside soils further suggested the link between the magnetic signal and concentrations of heavy metals. Thus, the magnetic parameters could provide a proxy measure for the level of heavy metal contamination and could be a potential tool for the detection and mapping of contaminated soils.
