Landfill underground pollution detection and characterization using inorganic traces

Since water is the main contamination arrow in the underground, it is necessary to get good indicators to be able to detect pollution sources as old wastes dump. This is also useful for the monitoring of contaminated sites in time and space. The new analytical method high resolution-ICP-MS is an opportunity tb improve the characterization of water by analyzing mineral traces at very low level (<0.1 mu g/l). Numerous site descriptions (41 sites) and statistical approach of collected samples (223 samples), have shown that the use of the inorganic trace elements is helpful for the detection and/or the survey of contaminated sites. Another interesting result shows specific indicators for hazardous waste. This method can be used beside organic compound analyses, which are heavier and expensive in practice. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.