Zinc and Chromium Load in Road Dust, Suspended Particulate Matter and Foliar Dust Deposits of Anand City, Gujarat

doi:10.4236/ojmetal.2013.32A1006

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Open Journal of Metal, 2013, 3, 42-50

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojmetal.2013.32A1006 Published Online July 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojmetal)

Zinc and Chromium Load in Road Dust, Suspended

Particulate Matter and Foliar Dust Deposits of

Anand City, Gujarat

Tanushree Bhattacharya1*, Sukalyan Chakraborty1, Dhara Tuteja2, Mitul Patel2

1Environmental Science and Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India

2Department of Environmental Science & Technology, Institute of Science and Technology for

Advanced Studies & Research, Vallabh Vidyanagar, India

Email: *[email protected]

Received May 23, 2013; revised June 26, 2013; accepted July 3, 2013

License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Anand, the milk capital of India, is a developing city with increasing vehicles and developmental activities going on at a

fast pace. This study attempts to investigate the zinc and chromium concentration in street dust, suspended particulate

matter and in foliar dust deposits. Ten sampling locations were selected based on the traffic density on the roads and

different anthropogenic activity. Sampling was carried out in the dry months of January to March 2011. The range of Zn

and Cr was 16.82 - 108.29 ppm and 118 - 151.5 ppm in the street dust respectively. Zn concentration in Suspended par-

ticulate matter lies in the range of 12.41 to 86 ppm and Cr concentration between 75 to 130 ppm. The range of Cr in

foliar deposited dust varied from 79.54 ppm to 31 ppm. Whereas, for Zn maximum concentration was in S10 which is

42.34 ppm and minimum was in site S9, 23.73 ppm. ANOVA single factor showed that at 0.05 level of significance site

wise variation of zinc and chromium concentration in SPM, Street dust and foliar deposited dust was not significant

signifying similar source of contamination. Which is further strengthened by the good positive correlation found be-

tween the Zn and Cr concentration of street dust, leaf deposited dust and SPM. The Contamination Factor in the sites

where metal concentration was high was 1.24 in S10 and 1.06 in S5 for Zn. For chromium the value of CF was 1.77 in

S10 and 1.67 in S5. These values indicate that street dust is moderately contaminated with respect to zinc and chromium.

Keywords: Heavy Metal; Street Dust; Contamination; Foliar Deposit; Suspended Particulate Matter

1. Introduction

Soils along road environments typically contain high

concentrations of heavy metals because of non-point con-

tamination sources, most commonly vehicle exhaust and

wear of vehicle parts. To many people, heavy metal pol-

lution is a problem associated with areas of intensive in-

dustry [1]. However, roadways and automobiles now are

considered to be one of the largest sources of heavy met-

als. Zinc, copper, and lead are three of the most common

heavy metals released from road travel, accounting for at

least 90 of the total metals in road run off. Lead concen-

trations; however, consistently have been decreasing

since leaded gasoline was discontinued. Smaller amounts

of many other metals, such as nickel and cadmium, chro-

mium are also found in road runoff and exhaust. About

half of the zinc and copper contribution to the environ-

ment from urbanization is from automobiles. Brakes re-

lease copper, while tire wear releases zinc. Motor oil also

tends to accumulate metals as it comes into contact with

surrounding parts as the engine runs, so oil leaks become

another pathway by which metals enter the environment.

However, chromium comes from the chrome plating of

some of the vehicular parts. Road dust also consists of

deposition of vehicle exhausts and industrial exhausts,

tire and brake wears, dust from paved roads or potholes,

and dust from construction sites [2].

On the road surface, most heavy metals become bound

to the surfaces of road dust or other particulates. During

precipitation, the bound metals will either become solu-

ble (dissolved) or be swept off the roadway with the dust.

In either case, the metals enter the soil or are channeled

into a storm drain. Whether in the soil or aquatic envi-

ronment, metals can be transported by several processes.

These processes are governed by the chemical nature of

*Corresponding author.

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL. 43

metals, soil and sediment particles, and the pH of the

surrounding environment. Dust kicked up by vehicles

traveling on roads may make up 33% of air pollution [3].

Road side soil and vegetation have been shown to be

contaminated with various trace elements primarily from

automobile exhaust. Metals accumulate in street dust and

in the leaves of roadside plants through atmospheric depo-

sition involving sedimentation, impaction and intercep-

tion [4]. Although there have been a considerable number

of studies of heavy metals concentrations in roadside soil

and plants, the vast majority of theses have been carried

out in developed countries with long histories of Indus-

trialization and extensive use of leaded gasoline and very

few studies have been carried out in developing countries

such as India where data on the concentration and dis-

tribution of metals in street dust are scarce. Therefore, this

study examines heavy metal levels in street dust and dust

deposited on plants along major traffic roadways in An-

and city, Gujarat, India.

2. Experimental Work

2.1. Study Area

The sampling locations were in Anand city, popularly

known as the milk capital of India, situated in the state of

Gujarat. It is well known for developing industrial and

commercial sectors, educational hubs.

Anand is located in the eastern part of Gujarat: 22˚34'0''N

- 72˚56'0"E with an urban population exceeding 2,090,276

inhabitants (Census, 2011). While the predominant wind

direction is from the northwest, the wind velocities are

usually low. In winter wind speed is 1.9 - 9.2 km·hr−1 in a

northwest direction and in summer 3.5 - 10.7 km·hr−1 in

south west direction. The region has a semi arid to arid

climate which fosters the transfer of huge amount of

suspended particulate matter into the lower levels of the

atmosphere in the dry seasons. The vehicular pollution is

also growing at an alarming rate with the associated

manifestation of increases efflux of toxic heavy metals

like Pb, Ni, Zn and Cu into the environment. The city’s

industrial belt (Gujarat Industrial Development Corpora-

tion) consisting of chemical, dyes, paints, and engineering

equipment manufacturing industries also contributes to

heavy metal pollution. Samples were collected from ten

major roadways of Anand city and the roadways are

shown in Figure 1. The detailed description is given in

Table 1. Background sample is actually collected from

relatively less trafficked rural roadway near Anand city.

2.2. Sampling

A total number of 20 road dust samples of each road

were collected from 10 major roadways which were the

sampling sites. Samples were collected from both the

sides of the road i.e. east and west sides. Sampling was

Figure 1. Sampling sites.

carried out in the dry months of January to March 2011.

The dust samples were collected from both sides i.e. east

and west side of the road using a plastic dust pan and

brush. A composite sample was prepared out of it by

coning and quartering method. About 100 grams of dust

was collected and stored in small self sealing plastic bags.

Care was taken to reduce the disturbance to the fine par-

ticles to a minimum, as these were readily lost by resus-

pension. Recently soiled surfaces and areas where car or

vehicles were parked or had been parked based on the

presence of oil stains were avoided. Any obvious extra-

neous material, such as cigarette ends or other debris,

was not collected with the sample. Between each sam-

pling brush was cleaned thoroughly [5].

For suspended particulate matter collection 6 hour

sampling was carried out using a commercially available

dust sampler (portable low volume air sampler, Instru-

mex LVS1) during the peak traffic hours in the morning.

Simultaneous measurement of surface meteorological pa-

rameters like temperature, relative humidity, wind speed

and wind direction were also carried out during the sam-

pling period. The particulate pollutant concentrations

were estimated by adopting gravimetric method subse-

quently.

Leaf dust sample was collected carefully from plant by

using soft brush using the methods adopted by. Leaves

were collected carefully in zip lock bags. Care was taken

to not disturb fine dusts that have settled on the leaves.

fter that leaves were washed properly in running water A

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL.

Table 1. Sampling sites and their descri ption.

Sampling location Description Vehicles per hour

Anand Vidyanagar Road—S1 Road is 1.5 kms long. Both sides of the road are covered by many shopping and commercial

complexes. Heavy traffic prevails on the road throughout the day. 4700 ± 20

Janta Borsad Cross Road—S2 This road connects Janta Chokdi and Borsad Chokdi covering length of about 3 kms.

Mostly, engineering industries are present in this area. 3500 ± 13

Anand Railway Station Road—S3

2 kms long. This road has Railway station on one end and Ganesh Chkokdi on other end which

is a commercial complex. Big commercial complexes, AMUL dairy office, Super markets, bus

station, Police station, Court and other administrative offices are also present along this road.

2900 ± 16

New Bus Station Road—S4 1 km long. Bus station and other commercial complexes are situated beside this road. 2274 ± 33

Gujarat Industrial Development

Corporation (GIDC) Road—S5

The GIDC area is spread over 3.5 km2. Engineering, paints and dye, pesticides, fertilizers,

metal processing industries are situated in this area. 1223 ± 17

Vadtal Road—S6 4 km long. Mainly agricultural fields are present on roadside with some residential areas. 913 ± 12

Iskon Road—S7 1 km long. Iskon temple, student hostels and residential areas. 2140 ± 26

University Circle Road—S8 Sardar Patel University, student hostels and residential areas. 1856 ± 21

Lambhel-Sk Road—S9 4 kms long. Connecting road to Nadiad. Few residential complexes, commercial complexes

and agricultural land exists. 1663 ± 17

Express Highway—S10 Connecting two major cities Ahmedabad-Vadodara. Mainly agricultural field exists beside the

highway with some commercial joints. 2295 ± 24

and kept in oven for 2 days for drying. Dried leaves were

crushed into fine powder by using mixture grinder avail-

able and that leaf powder was stored in small plastic bags

for further analysis [6]. Collected dust was stored in

small zip lock plastic bags for further analysis. Species

selection is done based on dominate species present at

that site.

Dust pH and EC was measured in 1:5 dust to water ra-

tio. They were measured using calibrated meters. Or-

ganic carbon is determined by following modified Jack-

son method [7]. For bringing out heavy metals present in

the dust into solution Aqua rigea method was followed.

In this 0.5 gm dust sample was taken and then HNO3:

HCl was added in 3:1 ratio. After that 3 ml perchloric

acid was added. In case of dust collected from leaves 5

ml perchloric acid was added. After the digestion is over

remove the flask from hot plate and allow it to cool. For

leaf samples 0.5 gm dried leaf sample was digested with

HNO3:HCl in 9:4 ratio [8].

Zn and Cr was analysed by AAS (Perkin Elmeyer

model) using an air-acetylene gas mixture using hollow

cathode lamp. Statistical analysis viz. correlation and

principal component analysis was done is SPSS software

version 11.

To assess the extent of contamination of heavy metals

in road dust and also provide a measure of the degree of

overall contamination along a particular road, contamina-

tion factor and pollution load index has been applied. The

contamination Factor (CF) parameter is expressed as:

CF = Cmetal/C background

where CF is the contamination factor, Cmetal is the con-

centration of pollutant in sediment Cbackground is the back-

ground value for the metal and n is the number of metals.

3. Results and Discussions

Table 2 shows that pH ranges from 6.5 to 8.5. On the

road surface, most heavy metals become bound to the

surfaces of road dust or other particulates. During pre-

cipitation, the bound metals will either become soluble

(dissolved) or be swept off the roadway with the dust. In

either case, the metals enter the soil or are channeled into

a storm drain. Whether in the soil or aquatic environment,

metals can be transported by several processes. These

processes are governed by the chemical nature of metals,

soil and sediment particles, and the pH of the surround-

ing environment. pH tends to be a master variable in this

whole process. In acid conditions, there are enough H+

ions in to occupy many of the negatively charged sur-

faces of clay and organic matter. Little room is left to

bind metals, and as a result, more metals remain in the

soluble phase [9]. In the present study the pH varies from

acidic to slightly alkaline. Except site 1, in all the other

sites the pH was slightly alkaline. So mobility due to

acidic conditions must be limited in the present study

condition. According to two-factor ANOVA at 0.05

(F0.05 level = 0.139 between east and west side and F0.05 level

= 2.29 within sampling locations) level of significance

there is no significant difference between the pH of street

dust of the roadways in all the sites and between both the

sides of the road.

Electrical conductivity of roadside dust samples are

represented in Table 2 . Result lies in the range of 3.02 to

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL. 45

Table 2. Result of pH, EC and organic carbon of street dust samples of various sites.

Parameters

Site

pH EC Organic carbon (%)

East side West side East side West side East side West side

S1 6.66 ± 0.22 6.69 ± 1.99 3.02 ± 0.29 2.45 ± 0.45 1.09 ± 0.26 1.02 ± 0.67

S2 7.09 ± 0.54 8.24 ± 0.67 1.59 ± 0.65 1.58 ± 0.54 1.49 ± 0.45 1.15 ± 0.34

S3 8.3 ± 0.16 7.81 ± 0.55 2.45 ± 0.33 2.972 ± 0.23 2.24 ± 0.99 2.11 ± 0.45

S4 7.72 ± 1.04 7.78 ± 1.39 1.57 ± 0.78 1.948 ± 0.68 1.02 ± 0.80 0.85 ± 0.52

S5 7.13 ± 1.43 7.16 ± 0.32 2.75 ± 0.47 2.77 ± 0.50 0.81 ± 0.03 0.64 ± 0.67

S6 7.06 ± 0.89 7.17 ± 0.76 0.84 ± 0.33 0.90 ± 0.30 1.17 ± 0.87 1.02 ± 0.11

S7 7.9 ± 0.55 7.66 ± 0.65 0.90 ± 0.21 1.09 ± 0.43 1.54 ± 0.34 1.92 ± 0.45

S8 7.84 ± 1.78 8.01 ± 1.21 0.89 ± 0.56 1.09 ± 0.67 1.13 ± 0.78 1.39 ± 0.48

S9 7.47 ± 0.99 7.49 ± 0.58 1.54 ± 0.49 1.56 ± 0.39 0.94 ± 0.15 0.85 ± 0.23

S10 7.0 ± 0.10 7.5 ± 0.27 0.88 ± 0.49 0.90 ± 0.54 0.75 ± 0.07 0.54 ± 0.16

Background soil 7.83 ± 0.54 6.83 ± 0.52 0.709 ± 0.33 1.038 ± 0.41 1.17 ± 0.12 0.96 ± 0.32

Two-factor ANOVA = non-significant variation

0.5 milli S. The decreasing order of EC in street dust

samples of all the sites is S1 > S5 > S3 > S4 > S2 > S9 > S7

> S8 > S10 > S1. ANOVA shows that at 0.05 level of sig-

nificance there is no significant difference in the data of

Electrical Conductivity of the street dust samples of east

and west side of the road , but significant variation lies

within the ten sampling locations (F0.05 level = 1.49 be-

tween east and west side and F0.05 level = 30.86 within

sampling locations). Electrical conductivity gives a rough

idea about the dissolved metal and salt status. Variations

within the sampling locations were may be due to this.

Table 2 also shows the percentage organic carbon in

the street dust samples. S3 which is Railway station Amul

dairy road shows maximum reading as the entire road

have good vegetation cover on the both sides of the road

and Anand’s biggest vegetable market is also present on

this road. On the other hand S10 which is Expressway

shows the minimum reading as least vegetation us pre-

sent on the site. The decreasing order of in street dust

samples of all the sites is S3 > S7 > S2 > S8 > S6 > S1 > S4

> S9 > S8 > S10. ANOVA shows that at 0.05 level of sig-

nificance there is no significant difference in the data of

Organic Carbon of the street dust samples of east and

Westside of the roads where as sitewise variation of ten

different sites was significant (F0.05 level = 1.62 between

east and west side and F0.05 level = 17.58 within sampling

locations). Organic matter content can bind metals and

reduces mobility of metal. So it can be inferred that dust

samples having more organic carbon will have less mo-

bile metal fraction. However detailed solid phase speci-

ation is needed to confirm this.

3.1. Zinc in and Chromium in Street Dust

Figure 2 shows Zn content in the street dust. Among the

different sites studied, Zn content is found highest in S10

(108.29 ppm) which is the Express highway followed by

S5 (92.19 ppm) which is the GIDC area. The range of Zn

was 16.82 - 108.29 ppm in the street dust. The decreasing

order of Zn content in street dust is in the following order

S10 > S5 > S2 > S4 > S1 > S3 > S7 > S6 > S9 > S8. Major

sources of Zn are Tire wear, Motor oil, Grease, Brake

emissions, Corrosion of galvanized parts [10-12]. At Ex-

press highway (S10) vegetation cover was less so micro-

climatic difference due to shading effect of trees was

negligible. So, road temperature was very high which

leads to high amount of tire wear of vehicles passing

form the highway. GIDC (S5) area has industrial sources

Zn concentra tion in street dust

100

120

S10

background

site s

Zn concentration (ppm)

East SideWest Side

Figure 2. Zn concentrations in street dust.

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL.

of Zn along with the above sources, as many electroplat-

ing industries and galvanization industries are present

here. Standard error bars in the Figure shows the varia-

tion in the sampling. The background concentration of

Zn is around 15 ppm. Less trafficked area like University

circle road, Vadtal, Lambhel Sk road shows less Zn con-

centration. The maximum acceptable limit for Zn in soil

is 300 μg/g, however there is no such limit for street dust.

None of the sites in our city exceeds this limit [13]. Es-

pecially our data of Zn matches with many reported stud-

ies [14-16].

Figure 3 shows Cr content in the street dust of differ-

ent sites. Among the different sites studied Cr content

was found highest in S5 (151.50 ppm) which is the GIDC

area followed by S10 (146.25 ppm) which is the Express

highway. The range of Cr was 118 - 151.5 ppm. Major

sources of Cr are Air conditioning coolants, Engine parts,

Brake emissions, wear and tear of chrome plated vehicu-

lar parts, yellow paints on the roads used for marking and

metal industries [17]. GIDC has industrial sources of Cr

along with the vehicular emissions. At express highway

Cr content is high because of high number of vehicles.

The decreasing order of Cr content in street dust is in the

following order S5 > S10 > S1 > S2 > S3 > S4 > S8 > S7 >

S6 > S9. The background concentration of Cr is around

110 ppm, which is high. So, some geogenic inputs can

also be one of the causes of elevated Cr concentration.

ANOVA single factor showed that at 0.05 level of sig-

nificance site wise variation of zinc and chromium con-

centration in street dust was not significant (F = 0.46).

This indicates that may be origin or source of these two

metals are same which may be anthropogenic vehicular

emissions. Less trafficked and rural areas like University

circle road, Vdatal, Lambhel Sk road, Iskon road shows

less Cr concentration. Cr content in the street dust is in

accordance with globally reported studies [18-21].

Comparison with different reported studies is shown in

Table 3.

3.2. Zinc and Chromium in Suspended

Particulate Matter (SPM)

Figure 4 shows that Zn concentration in SPM lies in the

range of 12.41 to 86 ppm. High Zn concentration is

found in S10 (85.75 ppm) followed by S5 (61.54 ppm) and

S2 (49.16 ppm) in SPM. The sources of Zn in SPM are

similar as described in street dust sources. The data was

also represented in nano gm/m3 i.e. nano gm of Zn pre-

sent in SPM/m3 volume of air. The decreasing order of

Zn content in SPM is in the following order S10 > S5 > S2

> S1 > S7 > S3 > S4 > S6 > S9 >S8. The results were com-

pared with several Global and Indian studies and it was

found that the Zn content is in accordance with some

global and Indian studies which are compared [22].

Figure 5 shows the Cr concentration in SPM in Anand

Table 3. Comparison with different reported studies.

Study area Zn (ppm) Cr (ppm) Reference

Dhaka,

Bangladesh 169 77 - 160 Ahmed et al.,

2006 [1]

Calcutta, India159 54 Chaterjee et al.,

1999 [4]

Delhi, India 120 - 380 100 - 1350 Banerjee et al.,

2003 [5]

Islamabad

Pakistan 116 - Faiz et al., 2009

[8]

Islam Sahar,

Tehran, Iran 78.2 - 162.2560.3 - 117.2 Yazdi et al.,

2009 [14]

Kano, Nigeria167.53 - 270.131.75 - 62.53 Alhassan et al.,

2012 [15]

Adamawa State,

Nigeria 102.22 - 705.81.22 - 5.40 Shinggu et al.,

2007 [16]

Xian, China 421 167 Yongming et al.,

[17]

Ketu-South,

Ghana 18.20 - 406.5284.0 - 4106.0 Addo et al.,

2012, [18]

Yazgat, Turkey226 - 1852 - Divrikli et al,

2003 [19]

Brimingham, UK534 - Charlesworth et

al., 2003 [20]

Zagazig City,

Egypt 163.83 - 282.5159.17 - 78.86 ElShayep et al.,

2001 [21]

Anand City,

Gujarat, India16.82 - 108.29118 - 151.5 Present study

C r concentration i n stree t dust

100

120

140

160

180

S10

background

site s

Cr concentration (ppm)

East SideWest Side

Figure 3. Cr concentrations in street dust

city ranges between 75 to 130 ppm. High Cr content is

found in S5 followed by S9 and then S1 sites which is

GIDC area, Sk lambhel road, and Anand Vidyanagar

road respectively. The sources of Cr are similar as de-

scribed for street dust sources. The data was represented

in nano gm/m3 i.e. nano gm of Cr/m3 volume of air The

decreasing order of Cr content in SPM is in the following

order S5 > S9 > S2 > S1 > S4 > S6 > S10 > S3 > S7 > S8.

ANOVA single factor showed that at 0.05 level of sig-

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL. 47

Figure 4. Cr concentrations in street dust.

Figure 5. Cr concentration in suspended particulate matter

in ng/m3 and in ppm.

nificance site wise variation of zinc and chromium con-

centration in SPM was not significant (F = 0.23), signi-

fying same origin of these two metals in SPM.

PM10 was sampled for the zinc and chromium load

calculation in the suspended particulate matter. However,

further analysis of PM2.5 should be done to predict the

health impacts. Zn and Cr content in SPM is less com-

pared to metropolitan cities of India like Delhi (185 -

1320 ppm Zn; 112 - 131 ppm Cr), Calcutta (750 - 5160

ppm Zn, 130 - 197 ppm), and Madras (2720 - 3930 ppm

Zn, 170 - 280 ppm Cr), Cochin (2350 - 4925 ppm Zn,

175 - 285 ppm Cr) [23].

3.3. Heavy Metal Concentration of Dust

Deposited on Leaf

To estimate the foliar deposition and the effect of atmos-

pheric dust fall out on the leaf surface metal concentra-

tion were analyzed on the leaf deposited dust and the

results found were given in Table 4. Site wise the de-

creasing order of Cr concentration in leaf deposited dust

was as follows. S5 > S10 > S2 > S1 > S4 > S6 > S3 > S8 >

S7 > S9. However, ANOVA single factor showed that at

0.05 level of significance site wise variation of zinc and

chromium concentration in deposited leaf was not sig-

nificant (F = 1.24) indicating same source of metals. The

range of Cr concentration varied from 79.54 ppm to 31

ppm. It was found that maximum Zn concentration was

in S10 which was 42.34 ppm and minimum in site S9,

23.73 ppm. Sources of Cr in the deposited dust may be

due to natural weathering and wind deflation or anthro-

pogenic emission from the industries and vehicles. The

trend of Cr concentration in leaf deposited dust was

similar to the trend found in street dust. Foliar deposition

of dust depends largely on meteorological conditions and

dust capturing capacity of the leaves of the plants grow-

ing beside the roadways. Minimum wind speed during

sampling period was 1.6 km/hr (0.44 m/s) and maximum

wind speed was 4.4 km/hr (1.2 m/s). When data of wind

speed were compared with Beaufort scale it was found

that wind condition was light and calm throughout the

sampling period. Direction of wind was from south

mainly. No precipitation was found at the time of sam-

pling so washing of street and leaves did not occur,

which gives actual results. All these meteorological pa-

rameters favored the deposition of dusts on leaf surface

and street.

3.4. Correlation Analysis

Pearson’s correlation coefficients for metal elements in

street dusts, deposited dust on leaf and in air in Anand

city are summarized in Table 5. Inter-element relation-

ship and inter-segment relationship provides interesting

information on the sources and pathways of metals. Inter

element relationship between leaf deposited dust was

Table 4. Metal concentrations in leaf deposite d dust.

Sampling sitesCr Zn

S1 52.94 ± 3.04 40.46 ± 2.09

S2 58.94 ± 1.12 32.26 ± 1.03

S3 41.54 ± 2.13 28.82 ± 2.04

S4 49.35 ± 3.04 24.54 ± 1.04

S5 79.54 ± 4.04 43.90 ± 4.22

S6 42.86 ± 2.01 27.01 ± 2.11

S7 34.09 ± 1.32 23.90 ± 3.03

S8 39.01 ± 0.56 25.37 ± 1.11

S9 31.00 ± 1.82 23.73 ± 2.05

S10 60.21 ± 2.54 42.34 ± 2.14

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL.

Table 5. Correlation analysis.

Cr in Street

dust

Zn in street

dust

Zn in deposited

dust on leaf

Cr in deposited

dust on leaf Cr in SPMZn in SPM pH EC OC

Cr in street dust 1

Zn in street dust 0.433 1.000

Zn in deposited dust on leaf 0.483 -0.388 1.000

Cr in deposited dust on leaf 0.569 -0.187 0.855* 1.000

Cr in SPM 0.997* 0.443 0.465 0.559 1.000

Zn in SPM 0.352 −0.387 0.749 0.651 0.331 1.000

pH −0.608 0.101 −0.719 −0.566 −0.575 −0.500 1

EC 0.606 0.261 0.514 0.457 0.589 0.152 −0.285 1.000

OC −0.394 −0.074 −0.375 −0.377 −0.415 −0.284 0.535 0.1371

*Signifies strong significant correlation, underlined values signifies moderate correlation.

found positive in all the cases. This can be interpreted as;

if any of the two metals concentration increases other

will also increase. This gives an idea that both may have

common origin such as industrial, vehicular or natural

origin. Good correlation exists between the Zn and Cr

concentration of street dust, leaf deposited dust and SPM.

Furthermore, strong positive correlation exist between

leaf deposited Zn and chromium. This fact also depict

that the sources are common for these metals in street

dust, air and atmospheric fallout and in leaf deposition.

The metal concentrations do not correlate significantly

with pH, organic carbon and EC. Owing to the narrow

range of these parameters in the samples, so these pa-

rameters have limited importance on metal distribution.

3.5. Contamination Factor

As per the formula of contamination factor (CF) dis-

cussed in experimental section, the CF in the sites where

metal concentration was high was 1.24 in S10 and 1.06 in

S5 for Zn. For chromium the value of CF was 1.77 in S10

and 1.67 in S5. The CF reflects the metal enrichment in

the dust. The geochemical background values in conti-

nental crust averages of the trace metals under considera-

tion are taken as 95 ppm for Zn and 90 ppm for Cr [24].

The CF was classified into four groups. Where the con-

tamination factor CF < 1 refers to low contamination; 1 ≤

CF < 3 means moderate contamination; 3 ≤ CF ≤ 6 indi-

cates considerable contamination and CF > 6 indicates

very high contamination. So the results, indicates that

street dust is moderately contaminated with respect to Zn

and chromium. The sites with relatively less traffic and

the rural background area had CF less than 1.

Zinc is essential at very low concentrations for life be-

cause they have important roles in metabolic processes

taking place in living cells. The presence of these metals

ions at elevated levels in the environment is often toxic

to living organisms. This involves blocking essential

functional groups, displacing essential metal ions, or

modifying the active confirmation of biological mole-

cules resulting in the inhibition of a variety of metabolic

as well as enzyme activities in living organisms. The

metal toxicity has a direct effect on various physiological

and biochemical processes such as photosynthesis, chlo-

rophyll content and reduction in plant growth. Water

soluble zinc that is located in soils can contaminate

groundwater. Zinc ions may also increase the acidity of

water. The metal that enters the bodies of plants and

animals is able to bio-magnify up the food chain. Chro-

mium(III) is an essential element at trace level whereas

Chromium(VI) is mainly toxic to living organisms. High

concentrations of chromium can cause respiratory prob-

lems in animals, a lower ability to fight disease, birth

defects, infertility and tumor formation [25].

4. Conclusion

Anand city has developed in a rapid pace in past few

years. The number of vehicles also increased in past few

years at an alarming rate. Many commercial areas and

construction activities along with industrial activities

have also taken place within a short time span. So, heavy

metal pollution due to anthropogenic inputs is most likely

increasing with the developmental activities. Zinc and

Chromium concentration were moderately high in the

street dust. Contamination factor in the industrial area

and highly trafficked area was also found moderately

high. The heavy metal contaminations in street dust show

a considerable decrease from place of high traffic activi-

ties to a place of low traffic activities. SPM and foliar

deposited dust also showed similar trends as street dust.

From street dust the bioavailable and soluble portion of

T. BHATTACHARYA ET AL. 49

zinc and chromium can find its way to groundwater and

surface water bodies and can enter food chain. If they are

present in suspended dust fraction PM2.5 then it can be

inhaled too. Finally, results obtained from this research

work would now provide significant reference value for

future studies.

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