Abstract

Soil represents a major sink for metals that arereleased into the environment from various sources, includinglandfills. Some of these metals may be persistent due to theirfairly mobile nature; whereas others are more mobile and havethe potential to leach through soil profile at a higher rate,reaching the groundwater. Thus, a pollution problem ariseswhen heavy metals are mobilized into soil solutions andtransported to groundwater. Therefore, soil analysis is essentialfor identifying the characteristics of soil in a study area, relatingit to leachate and leachate percolation, and defining the extentof contamination, if any. Due to the growing concern about therisk of groundwater contamination in landfills areas, especiallyin the widely used unengineered landfills, soil from three newlyconstructed boreholes in the vicinity of the Al Amiratunengineered landfill in Muscat was examined to determine theextent of soil contamination. The soil assessment indicated thatsoil samples in the vicinity of Al Amirat landfill do not pose anytoxicity because they are not considered hazardous. However,since most metals are mobile within the soil profile, an effect ongroundwater might occur in the long run if no action is taken toprevent it.