title: A geospatial analysis of soil lead concentrations around regional Oklahoma airports.
abstract: Lead has been banned from automobile gasoline since 1995; however, lead is still used as an additive to aviation gasoline (avgas). Airports are now one of the greatest sources of lead air emission in the US. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate soil lead levels radially from three regional airports; (2) collect historical meteorological data; (3) examine the soil organic matter content and (4) develop correlation coefficients to evaluate correlations among variables. Soil samples were collected from 3 different airports in Oklahoma and the soil lead concentration was measured using x-ray fluorescence (XRF). The measured soil lead concentrations were plotted with the corresponding GPS location in ArcGIS and Inverse Distance Weight spatial analysis was used to create modeled isopleths of soil lead concentrations. One of the three airports was found to have soil lead concentrations that correlate with soil organic matter with one other showing correlation between soil lead concentration and distance from the airport. The spatial modeled isopleths showed elevated soil lead concentrations in the direction of prevailing winds with "hot spots" near the avgas fueling stations.
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 121 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: alexander.mccumber@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCumber
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, 202 West Boyd, Norman, OK, USA. Electronic address: strevett@ou.edu.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Strevett
mesh_terms: D059028:Airports; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005742:Gasoline; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D009825:Oklahoma; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D007854:Lead
keywords: Aircraft lead emission; Aviation gasoline; Lead air emission; Regional airports; Spatial modeling