IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v9y2012i2p511-520d16010.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mineral Contamination from Cemetery Soils: Case Study of Zandfontein Cemetery, South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Cornelia Jonker

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, P.O. Box X6, Florida 1710, South Africa)

  • Jana Olivier

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, P.O. Box X6, Florida 1710, South Africa)

Abstract

The burial of coffins may pose an environmental and health hazard since the metals that are used in coffin-making may corrode or degrade into harmful toxins. These may leach into the surrounding soils and groundwater. Very little research has been conducted world-wide on the mineral contamination potential of cemeteries, and virtually none in South Africa. The aim of the study is to determine whether burial practices affect the mineral content of soils in cemeteries. This was done by comparing the mineral concentrations of soils within the Zandfontein Cemetery in Tshwane (Gauteng, South Africa) to those off-site as well as those in zones with high burial loads with those zones with fewer burials. Twenty three soil samples were collected from various sites on- and off-site and analyzed for 31 minerals using ICP-AES. It was found that mineral concentrations of soils within the Zandfontein Cemetery were considerably higher than those off-site. Soil samples in multiple burials blocks also have elevated metal concentrations. These excess metals are probably of anthropogenic origin associated with burial practices and could pose an environmental and human health hazard. Strict monitoring of water quality in boreholes in the vicinity of the cemetery is recommended.

Suggested Citation

  • Cornelia Jonker & Jana Olivier, 2012. "Mineral Contamination from Cemetery Soils: Case Study of Zandfontein Cemetery, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:2:p:511-520:d:16010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/2/511/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/2/511/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Viviana Abad-Sarango & Tania Crisanto-Perrazo & Paulina Guevara-García & Greta Fierro-Naranjo & Theofilos Toulkeridis & Edwin Ocaña Garzón & Betzabeth Quishpe-Gómez & Silvana Suntaxi-Pachacama, 2024. "Determination of Soil Contamination Due to the Influence of Cemeteries for the Surrounding Land and People in Central Ecuador—Worldwide Implications," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Alcindo Neckel & Cleiton Korcelski & Luis F. O. Silva & Henrique Aniceto Kujawa & Brian William Bodah & Adriano Marcos Rodrigues Figueiredo & Laércio Stolfo Maculan & Affonso Celso Gonçalves & Eliane , 2022. "Metals in the soil of urban cemeteries in Carazinho (South Brazil) in view of the increase in deaths from COVID-19: projects for cemeteries to mitigate environmental impacts," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 10728-10751, September.
    3. Patrick Richardson & Heather Tillewein & Joao Antonangelo & Daniel Frederick, 2024. "The Impact on Environmental Health from Cemetery Waste in Middle Tennessee," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-11, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:9:y:2012:i:2:p:511-520:d:16010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.