Heavy metal concentration in roadside
soil and plants are increasingly becoming of health concern. Especially with
the continue increase in anthropogenic activities such as industries and
urbanization which releases pollutants in to the environment without control
and effects remedies. Heavy metal is any metal that is toxic regardless of
their density or atomic mass. Heavy metals occur naturally in the soil
environment from the pedogenetic processes of weathering of parent materials
and from anthropogenic sources such as traffic emission, industrial and energy
production, waste disposal, vehicle exhaust as well as coal and fuel
combustion. Among the numerous environmental pollutants, heavy metals plays an
important role as its concentrations in air, soil and water are continuously
increasing due to anthropogenic activities. To determine heavy metals in
roadside soil and plants, Hong major road in Adamawa State, Nigeria was taken
as a case study. The concentration of selected heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cr, Fe,
Mg, Mn, Co, Ni and Cu) in roadside soils and plants samples from selected sites
(Plaifu, Shiwa, Fadama-rake and Damdrai) along major road in Hong were
determined. Soil samples were taken 10 m, 20 m and 30 m away from the edge of
the road at the depth of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm. Plant samples were
randomly collected within the vicinity where the soil samples were taken and
were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The result revealed
the trend in soil heavy metal concentration was Fe > Mn > Mg > Pb >
Zn > Ni > Co > Cu > Cr > Cd and for plant the trend was Fe >
Mn > Mg > Zn > Pb > Ni > Cu > Cd > Co > Cr. The
concentrations decreased with increasing distance away from the edge of the road
as well as with depth at which the soil sample were taken. The transfer factor
showed that the concentration of Zn, Mn, Cu and Mg were greater than 1, which
shows that plant were enriched by Zn, Mn, Cu and Mg from the soil. Mg and Cd
equal to 1 at Plaifu and Damdrai. Most of the values of TF at the study area
super pass 0.5, which implies that generally, the ability of bioaccumulation of
these heavy metals in examined plants were relatively high.
Author(s) Details
Nachana’a Timothy
Department of Chemistry,
Adamawa State University, Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria.
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