SOIL MAGNETIZATION IN THE VICINITY OF THE EASTLAKE COAL POWER PLANT, LAKE COUNTY, OHIO

Ultrafine particles of fly ash emitted by coal-fired power plants can lead to serious health concerns including increased asthma attacks and bronchitis. The combustion of fossil fuels produces particles having unique magnetic characteristics that distinguish them from pedogenically produced magnetic particles. To investigate the possible impact the former Eastlake, Ohio coal-fired power plant may have had on the environment, twenty soil samples were collected and their magnetic properties measured. The power plant had operated for 104 years and during this time period residents in the area reported ash on their cars and hanging laundry. It is hypothesized that closer to the power plant the soil will contain more ferrimagnetic combustion particles than soil located farther away. Furthermore, these combustion particles will decrease with depth in the soil profile. Magnetic measurements generally indicate the soil contains abundant coarse-grained, low coercivity magnetite-like particles closer to the power plant. Combustion particles typically exhibit these magnetic characteristics. With increasing distance from the plant, the soil contains higher concentrations of superparamagnetic particles indicative of pedogenic processes not related to combustion. Going down the soil profile close to the former power plant the magnetic properties do not exhibit the typical combustion magnetic properties of high concentration, coarse-sized, ferrimagnetic particles. Remanence-bearing particles extracted from surface soil near the power plant were examined by a scanning electron microscope. Numerous iron-rich spherules indicative of fossil fuel combustion were found. Other studies have shown a correlation between heavy metals and combustion particles. Therefore, this study suggests that soil magnetic properties can be useful in mapping areas that may have been adversely impacted by combustion pollution.