Salt, nutrient and other contaminant analysis of soil samples taken near the old Vanda Station

The movement of naturally occurring salts as well as contaminants was investigated to understand what drives the movement of contaminants. At Lake Vanda, as the water rises, the soil along its shore becomes progressively more wet upslope.

The soils upslope have a significant soluble component and at Vanda station a measureable amount of human derived contamination. To determine if the soluble component in the soils and contamination from human waste is moving through the soils into the lake waters, soil samples were taken from three different sites and analysed for salts, nutrients and other contaminants. Three trenches were excavated for soil samples near Vanda Station: one in a contaminated enclosed basin (Greywater Gully) which was flooded throughout the year and had groundwaters at about 10 cm below its lowest point; at the mouth of this fully adjacent to the lake, where groundwaters were found to be more saline at the time of sampling; and at a reference site on the lake shore some 500 m west of Vanda station.