LAUSR

Abstract The vertical and horizontal contamination profile of the loess sediments located in the vicinity of the highway Novi Sad-Belgrade, with the intense frequency of vehicles, has been assessed. The heavy metal content (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and hydrocarbon content were determined for the samples collected from two loess profiles in broad ranges of depth (0.15–4.50 m at 0.15 m intervals) and horizontally deeper in the sediment (0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 m). For all loess samples the contents of heavy metals were lower than the remediation intervention values. Hydrocarbon content in all analyzed sediment samples was below limit of quantification of 50 mg/kg. Magnetic susceptibility of the samples revealed the occurrence of one weak paleosol in one loess profile as well as the anthropogenic loess like deposits in the upper part of the second profile. The polynomial regression was successfully applied to estimate relationship between magnetic susceptibility of the loess and heavy metal content, total organic carbon and grain-size distribution. The developed second order equations are a responsive method with the calculated multiple R higher than 94%. The proposed statistical approach greatly simplifies the analysis of loess profile as a record of pollution, and it may serve to estimate the extremely high values of magnetic susceptibility influenced by small increase in heavy metal content, total organic carbon and grain size distribution.