Relationships between cement dust emissions and soil properties

Abstract

Composite soils from conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) fields under wheat (Triticum vulgare cultivar Dogu-88) were randomly collected (0-30 cm depth) in triplicate at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 km distance to evaluate the effects of cement dust on soil basal respiration, microbial populations, enzyme activity and calculated soil quality (SQ) indices. Soil pH, exchangeable Ca and Mg, CaCO3, and alkaline phosphatase (AlkP) showed a significant linear decrease in total organic C (TOC), total C (TC), urease activity (UA), and bacterial populations, and soil biological quality (SBQ) showed a significant linear increase with sampling distance from the cement plant. Total N (TN), available P (AP), basal respiration (BR), acid phosphate (AcdP) activity, dehydrogenase (DH) activity, fungal populations, and SQ showed a quadratic response with sampling distance. Soil pH, CaCO3, TOC effective CEC, SBQ, soil chemical quality (SCQ), and SQ were significantly influenced by increasing distance.