Title
Impact assessment of metals on soils from Machu Picchu archaeological site
Date Issued
01 March 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Morillas H.
Gredilla A.
Carrero J.A.
Gallego-Cartagena E.
Maguregui M.
Marcaida I.
Madariaga J.M.
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
Machu Picchu is an archaeological Inca sanctuary from the 15th century, located 2430 m above the sea level in the Cusco Region, Peru. In 1983, it was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The surroundings and soils from the entire archaeological site are carefully preserved together with its grass parks. Due to the importance of the archaeological city and its surroundings, the Decentralized Culture Directorate of Cusco-PAN Machu Picchu decided to carry out a careful monitoring study in order to determine the ecological status of the soils. In this work, elemental and molecular characterization of 17 soils collected along the entire park was performed by means of X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) after acidic digestion assisted by microwave energy. Thanks to the combination of these analytical techniques, it was possible to obtain the mineral composition and metal concentrations of all soils from these 17 sampling points. Finally, different statistical treatments were carried out in order to confirm the ecological status of the different sampling points from Machu Picchu archaeological site concluding that soils are not impacted.
Volume
242
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Geoquímica, Geofísica
Geografía económica y cultural
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85074347843
PubMed ID
Source
Chemosphere
ISSN of the container
00456535
Sponsor(s)
This research work was developed thanks to the collaboration between the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and Peruvian Ministry of Culture and to the Decentralized Culture Directorate of Cusco-PAN Machu Picchu directorate. This work has been funded by the Analytical Research and Innovation Project (ref. IT742-13 ) funded by the Basque Government , and by the UFI Global Change and Heritage Project (ref. UFI11-26 ), funded by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Authors are grateful also to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and to the Decentralized Culture Directorate of Cusco-PAN Machu Picchu. Technical support provided by General X-ray Service: A Rocks and Minerals laboratory of the SGIker (UPV/EHU, MICINN, GV/EJ, ERDF and ESF) is also gratefully acknowledged. Appendix A
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