Magnetite in roadside dust reveals source of pollution

Subject : Science and technology

Section :Pollution

Concept :

Geologists at Jadavpur University have found that they can get a preliminary sense of the pollution in an area by collecting roadside dust and testing it with magnetic fields.
The technique reveals the presence of different magnetic elements, and by tracing them back to specific sources of pollution, the researchers could tell which sources were dominating in different places.
Their study is in the area of environmental magnetism, which uses magnetism to depict the impact of climate change, pollution and environmental footprints on magnetic minerals present in environmental samples such as soil, dust and sediments.

Environmental Magnetism

Environmental magnetism is the study of magnetism as it relates to the effects of climate, sediment transport, pollution and other environmental influences on magnetic minerals.
It makes use of techniques from rock magnetism and magnetic mineralogy.
The magnetic properties of minerals are used as proxies for environmental change in applications such as paleoclimate, paleoceanography, studies of the provenance of sediments, pollution and archeology.
The main advantages of using magnetic measurements are that magnetic minerals are almost ubiquitous and magnetic measurements are quick and non-invasive.

Magnetite

Magnetite is an oxide of iron.
Magnetite is the most magnetic of all the naturally occurring minerals on earth. It is a natural magnet.
It contains about 72% metallic iron in it. It is found in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala.