Geochemistry and mineralogy of coal mine overburden (waste): A study towards their environmental implications.

Open-cast mining of coal generates waste material, including rock and soil with different minerals, and traditionally dumped as waste over the valuable lands worldwide. Overburden (OB) is devoid of actual soil characteristics, low micro and macronutrient content, and a sufficient amount of rare earth elements, silicate, sulphate, and clay minerals. This study aimed to determine the geochemistry and mineralogy of OB samples collected from Makum coalfield, Margherita of Northeast (NE) India.

Biomonitoring of airborne platinum group elements in urban traffic police officers.

In the present study, an attempt was made to study the levels of platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rh) in respirable suspended particulate matter samples and respective blood samples of occupationally exposed traffic personnel in selected sites of Hyderabad city. The maximum concentration of platinum group elements in air dust samples of Hyderabad city were as follows: Pt = 1,416 µg/m(3), Pd = 1,024 µg/m(3), and Rh = 1,352 µg/m(3). The blood samples of occupationally exposed personnel of Hyderabad city showed Pt as high as 6.

Application of microwave plasma atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES) for environmental monitoring of industrially contaminated sites in Hyderabad city.

Recently introduced microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES) represents yet another and very important addition to the existing array of modern instrumental analytical techniques. In this study, an attempt is made to summarize the performance characteristics of MP-AES and its potential as an analytical tool for environmental studies with some practical examples from Patancheru and Uppal industrial sectors of Hyderabad city. A range of soil, sediment, water reference materials, particulate matter, and real-life samples were chosen to evaluate the performance of this new analytical technique.