EFFECTS OF SUPERSTORM SANDY ON URBAN SOIL QUALITY IN JERSEY CITY, NJ

Urban environments are the major sites for human habitation and yet extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic and natural disasters. Superstorm Sandy devastated the US east cost (including New Jersey) in October, 2012. Such large-scale events may affect the overall geochemical characteristics of urban soils which ultimately control surface environmental quality. The primary goal of this study is to understand the magnitude and variability of the impact of Superstorm Sandy on the urban soil quality in Jersey City, NJ which is one of the most polluted cities in US.

The on-going research on urban soil survey, initiated in 2007, provides a unique opportunity to represent pre-Sandy urban-soil baseline geochemistry. During this study special emphasis will be given to spatial and temporal distribution of potentially toxic elements in the urban soils. Pb-isotopic, elemental and mineralogical compositions of the samples will be discussed in the context of grain size fractionations of the samples.