The Impact of Rock Crushing On the Quality of Air and Soil Within and Outside the Crushing Site (Published)
This study investigates the effect of rock crushing on Ishiagu environment in Enugu State, Nigeria. The quality of air dust and soil samples within and outside the crushing area was analyzed by taking samples of rock dust), soil and underground water. The amount of iron, zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel were determined in the rock dust and soil samples collected within and outside the crushing sites. The results indicated that the concentration of metals in all samples were significant ranging from 1425-48180mg/kg in air dust sample, 120-44000mg/kg in soil samples while the metals in the underground water was seen to be decreasing as the distance from the crushing site increased .The underground water samples were observed to have high total dissolved solids (754,587 and 604) ppm respectively, total chloride and total hardness. All underground water samples were in excess of 150 mg/l total chloride with pH values between the ranges of 4.5 to 5.5 which is acidic.
Keywords: Concentration, Metals, Soil, Water, rock, rock dust