Land Parcel Land Use History as a Key to Site Selectionfor Documenting Soil Contamination Risk: a Case Study from Australian Suburbia

In that orcharding in early to mid twentieth century southeastern Australia involved use of certain heavy metal and As compounds in regular pest control spray procedures, some interest attaches to the possibility that these landparcels are underlain by soils with above background Cu, Pb and As levels. Interpretation of Land cover changes allowed land parcels previously occupied by orchards to be identified in the 1950s through time series air photos. A comparison of soil analysis results referring to soil samples from control sites, and from land parcels formerly occupied by orchardists, shows that contamination (above background) levels of cations in the pesticides can be found in the top 6 cm of former orchard soils. It is clear that digital spatial data handling and culturally informed air photo interpretation has a place in soil contamination studies, land use planning (with particular reference to re development) and in administration of public health.