Investigation of soil and groundwater environment in urban area during post-industrial era: A case study of brownfield in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

With the adjustment of industrial structure, many high pollution enterprises will gradually shut down. This process will produce a large number of high-risk pollution plots and cause a series of environmental problems. In this study, geophysical detection and direct push technology were applied to investigate soil and groundwater pollution in a typical brownfield in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, China. The results showed that Chlorotoluene and its ramification were the main pollutants for the brownfield. Pollution decreased with depth and was quite uneven in the brownfield. Production and wastewater treatment areas were heavily polluted, where volatile organic compounds contaminated and semi-volatile organic compounds were found 12 m and 15 m below the land surface, respectively. About 18880 m3 groundwater was contaminated. This study is significant to develop a geological survey work mode for the postindustrial era.