Evaluation of the contamination by explosives and metals in soils at the Älvdalen Shooting Range. Part II. Result and discussion

Previous investigations at American and Canadian shooting ranges have shown elevated levels of explosive residues in soil, water and groundwater. The distribution of explosive residues has been shown to be particularly heterogeneous, thus making the sample collection procedure vitally important. In the present study, soil samples, covering three training activities; anti-tank area, hand grenade range and a crater area at älvdalen shooting range, were collected following a systematic random design. A laboratory processing method was developed for multi-increment composite samples, 0.5-1.5 kg in size, before the samples were analyzed by liquid and gas chromatography. Trace metal analysis was only performed in the anti-tank area. In general, low levels of explosive residues were found at all the investigated sites. However, HMX (4.2 microg/g) was the dominant contaminant in the target area of the anti-tank range and nitroglycerine (262 microg/g) at the firing positions. Residues of TNT (59 microg/g) was detected around one of the target tanks at the crater area. Lead, copper and chromium were elevated in a few soil samples from the anti-tank range. Based on the results, and when compared to similar ranges sampled either in Canada or in the USA for explosive and metals, our results tended to demonstrate that lower levels of residues were dispersed in Älvdalen. This might be explained by the lower intensity and frequency of firing events in Älvdalen.