BSM8120

Module Identifier	BSM8120
Module Title	INORGANIC CONTAMINATION
Academic Year	2000/2001
Co-ordinator	Dr John Scullion
Semester	Available All Semesters
Assessment	Exam	examination - 1.5 hours	50%
	Report	2000 word report	50%

Module objectives / Learning outcomes
Enabling objectives

After studying this module you should be able to:

Understand and apply basic chemistry to the study of soils and environmental rehabilitation.
Understand pH and how it affects plant growth through impacts on nutrient availability and metal availability.
Describe the nature and extent of acidic wastes and the associated principles underlying their reclamation.
Describe the nature and extent of alkaline wastes and the associated principles underlying their reclamation.
Describe the nature and extent of various saline and sodic wastes and discuss the basic principles underlying their reclamation.
Sustain an interest in any boring subject as long as it prevents you from reading about soil any more.
Describe the soil factors that influence the availability of metals in soils and wastes.

Describe the various methods for reducing the available metal pool in a waste and the reclamation methods for metal contaminated waste.
Appreciate that it is rare to find a single reclamation problem at a site, rather a whole range of problems are found together.
Terminal objective :
To understand the soil processes that affect the availability and toxicity of various inorganic contaminants. To know how to modify soil conditions to reduce or remove the problems of toxicity. To be able to assess when isolation of a waste is preferable to its remediation. To be able to suggest a method of reclamation for most important inorganic contamination.

Syllabus
In this module we will look at issues of inorganic contamination. The first chapter will start with some basic soil science which you will need in order to understand later material relating to contamination. We will then look at acidic, saline, alkaline and metal contaminated materials in sequence. Acid and alkaline materials are dealt with before problems of metal contamination because of the overriding influence of pH on metal behaviour.

Within each of the `contamination? chapters, we will consider how these problems arise, the underlying science required to understand the properties and behaviour of contaminants, and the options for reclaiming affected sites.

Although these individual problems are treated separately, you will be aware that on many sites they occur together.