Dirty Soil?  Heavy Metal Analysis of Organic Growers Club Farm Soil. Keelia Johnston; Nicole Kurhanewicz; Sam Mackey. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. CH 461, Fall 2006.

Abstract:

Soil from the Oregon State University Organic Growers Club farm was analyzed by ICP-AES for concentrations of Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), Chromium (Cr), and Cadmium (Cd). Samples were taken at varying distances from highway 34 which runs parallel to the vegetable plots. Both Pb and Cd were below their respective detection limits of 5.26 ug/g, Pg, and 4.69 ug/g, Cd. Soil concentrations of 58.6 to 70.5 ug/g and 31.0 to 45.8 ug/g were found for Zn and Cr respectively. Chromium was the only element to show a correlation between soil concentration and distance from the road with a two sample t-test, assuming equal variances comparing the samples closest and furthest from the road, yielding a p-vale of 0.016.