the eighth approximation: urban soil in the anthropocene
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THE EIGHTH APPROXIMATION SOIL 1
2
3
4
5
CITIFIED
GENTRIFIED
COMMODIFIED
MORTIFIED
BEATIFIED
A + +
2
1
+
++ + + + +
4
3
+ +
B
5
+
++ + + + +
C 1
D
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2
2
2
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3
3
4
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4
Series Description Every year 1.8 million people are buried in a cemetery. The material deposition that attends this ceremony creates a distinct soil in every city and county in the United States, which will persist into geological time.
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ai
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AUSTRALIAN URBAN SOIL TAXONOMY
RUSSIAN URBAN SOIL TAXONOMY
ROAD SOIL
COMMODIFIED SUBSTANTIALLY CHEMICALY ENHANCED ADOLESCENT JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER Profile Key
Typical Profile
Soil medium:
no typic soil medium
COMMODIFIED
carboniferous life road
Petroleum products CONCENTRATION less
more
Temporal Displacement - 359–299 million years The vast majority of the worlds oil reserves were produced during the carboniferous. The temporary indigestability of lignin caused vast swamps, which under Jurassic present 359 -299 Million Years Ago heat and pressure, became coal, oil, and natural gas.
Exxon, Mobile, Gulf, Flying J
OIL EXTRACTION
clay
soil contamination
groundwater contamination
Soil Survey: Frank's Service Station, NJ
C5+ CONCENTRATIONS (ppmv) > 30,000 15,000 - 30,000 10,000 - 15,000 5,000 - 10,000 100 - 5,000 10 - 100
0
50’
ADOLESCENT
US GAS STATIONS
Spatial Displacement - Oil production to US refineries
silt
CHEMICALLY ENHANCED
According to the EPA, 35% of underground petroleum storage tanks (UST's) in the United States were leaking in 1986, totalling 1.4 million tanks. Since then the EPA has initiated a program of UST cleanup. The minimum number of petroleum brownfield sites today is 200,000, or roughly half of all brownfield sites recognized by the EPA. Each leaking tank typically results in between 23 and 38 cubic meters (30 to 50 cubic yards) of contaminated soil.
sand
SUBSTANTIALLY
Textural Polygon
Series Description:
BTEX Concentration (ppmv) > 1,500 1,000 - 1,500 600 - 1,000 300 - 600 100 - 3000
Diagnostic Elements
5 - 100
CYCLOALKANES Compounds such as cyclopentane, cyclobutane, and methylcyclopentane are saturated hydrocarbons which are relatively soluble in water.
AROMATICS Aromatics are ring-structured compounds such as Benzene (shown right), toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, collectively known as BTEX. They are the most soluble in water, and most toxic,
H
H H H
C C
0
H
C
H
H H C
C
50’
PROPANE Concentration (ppmv)
H
> 15.0
C
4.0 - 15.0
C H
C
C
3.0 - 4.0
H
2.0 - 3.0
H
1.0 - 2.0 0.5 - 1.0
STRAIGHT CHAIN ALKANES AND ALKYNES: These compounds are made of single bonds, and are usually between 5 and 10 carbons long in gasoline. They also include compounds such as propane, n-octane, and iso-octane. Of the three classes these are the least soluble in water.
H
H
H
H
C
C
C
H
H
H
H 0
50’
Source: Exploration Technologies, Inc., Land and Marine Exploration and Environmental Geochemical Surveys (http://www.etigeochemistry.com/franks/index.html)
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
Soil can be contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons of three distinct classes:
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