TITLE:
Heavy Metal Contaminations in Urban Soil within Baghdad City, Iraq
AUTHORS:
Abdul Hameed M. J. Al Obaidy, Athmar A. M. Al Mashhadi
KEYWORDS:
Urban Soils; Heavy Metal; Pollution Index; Enrichment Factor, Soil Pollution
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
25,
2013
ABSTRACT: Soil samples were collected from three
land use types within Baghdad
urban areas. The samples analyzed for Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn indicated
higher concentration of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn in the industrial area,
while higher concentration of Mn was observed in the residential areas.
However, the concentration of Cd, Ni and Pb was higher than the calculated
worldwide mean of unpolluted soil. For both roadside and open areas soils,
industrial area exhibited high values of Cd, Ni and Pb. The highest Single
Element Pollution Index (SEPI) for Cd, Ni and Pb in the industrial soils seems
therefore to be that this type of soil is the most polluted in the city of Baghdad. The calculated
Combined Pollution Index (CPI) for Cd, Ni and Pb ranged from 0.98 to 2.15 with
a mean of 1.28 for the entire urban soil samples, with the highest values in
the industrial area which suggest multi-element contamination and in some cases
are recommended for treatment. Furthermore, significant to extremely high
values of enrichment factors were recorded confirming an important role of
anthropogenic pollution.