Contamination with PAH in soils of rubble derived from bombing raids

Investigations of soils containing debris from bombing raids showed they were heavily contaminated with PAH. In this paper three soil profiles of a debris site are described in detail. They are characterized by high skeleton levels of plaster, cinder, brick, slate, ash and coal. The extremely high levels of PAH correlate to the cinder and coal components. Also, high PAH levels occur in skeleton of horizons dominated by cinder/brick components. Only a small portion of the 16 PAH, which are highly soluble in water, could be detected. The group Fluoranthen/Pyren/Benz(a)anthracen make up the dominant group within the 16 PAH. A soil depth analysis of the occurrence of the individual PAH (dependent on different main components) revealed no changes in occurrence. It was found that the solubility of PAH in water is < 1%. Only the low condensed PAH such as acenaphtylen and acenaphthen are soluble. Therefore detailed soil surveys and precise descriptions of their components make a valuation of the degree of danger for utilization claims (without laboratory analysis) as well as an estimation of costs for removal and sanitation (prior to the commencement of building work), possible. Since different components of debris soils contaminate differently, a distinction in soil classification has to be made between debris soils from bombing raids, which contain high amounts of ash and cinder, and regular debris soils.