Environmental Magnetism: Applications to pollution studies

CHAPARRO, MARCOS A.E.

Bandung

Simposio; Padjadjaran Earth Dialogues: International Symposium on Geophysical Issues; 2018

Department of Geophysics, Universitas Padjadjaran

Environmental magnetism methods are useful tools for polution-related and environmental changes studies. Magnetic monitoring studies have gained importance in the field of environmental magnetism since the last decades, mainly because this technique has been used as a tool to study changes and load pollution in specific environments, such as natural and urban areas, through magnetic measurements.Magnetic proxies have the advantage to be determined with high sensitivity combined with fast laboratory processing; sample preparation is easy, laboratory instruments are of relatively low cost, and most measurements are non-destructive. Magnetic properties are well suited as proxies of pollution records and they may be applied, among others, in monitoring anthropogenic sources and their adverse impact on urban areas, rivers, lakes, and soils.Concerning pollution problems, some cases of study are presented to demonstrate the importance of magnetic monitoring for determining pollution levels in urban areas of Argentina, rivers from South India, and Caribbean coast of Colombia.