Environmental Magnetic and Morphological Characteristics of Topsoils from the Coal Capital of India-Dhanbad

A comprehensive study of environmental magnetism and magnetic mineral morphology of topsoils from Dhanbad of Jharkhand, India is attempted to appraise the amount of magnetic minerals in topsoils and possible sources. This indicates that local anthropogenic sources greatly influence the topsoils. It reveals that the pseudosingle domain, fine-grained, low-coercive magnetite controls the magnetic mineralogy in topsoils, due to coal combustion-related activities and moderate vehicular movements. These results are accompanied by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analyses, suggesting the occurrence of principally spherule and accessorily angular anthropogenic magnetic grains in topsoils, indicating that local anthropogenic sources influence topsoils. The environmental magnetic and morphological characters of topsoils positively complement each other and conclude that magnetic grains from different sources show distinctly dissimilar morphologies. Some porous polygonal spherule-shaped magnetic grains are also identified, which could host potentially toxic elements and pose a threat to locals in the form of cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological health consequences. These anthropogenic magnetic grains stand distinctive in pollution source identification, where coal combustion and related infrastructure in and around Dhanbad city are recognized as major anthropogenic sources.