Soil Pollution Assessment from Industrial Area of Erbil City

Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , Pages 227-240

Authors

¹ Department of Environmental Science, College of Science, Salahaddin University

Present study assessed soil pollution by heavy metals and spent oil in three industrial

areas of Erbil City. Soil pH ranged from 7.53±0.017 to 8.25±0.012 and EC was ranged

between 103±0.882 and 465±9.955. Soils textures were loamy sand for south industry,

sandy for oil selling area and north industry while loamy for control soil. The ranges of

Pb, Zn and Ni were between 1.26±0.069 and 17.472±0.058; 1.439±0.006 and

3.078±0.003, and 0.399±0.061 and 0.982±0.048 ppm, respectively. The concentrations

of Cd and Cr were below the detection limit and Cu levels varied from 10.307±0.334

to 0.063±0.003 ppm, whereas Cu was not detected in some sites. The highest oil

residue was obtained in site 6. Oil and grease content for the groundwater samples in

the studied sites were zero. Pearson’s correlation showed a significant positive

correlation between Ni and moisture content and Ni and bulk density, beside to a

moderate correlation between Pb and Zn. A high significant negative correlation was

detected between bulk density and oil content. The lateral distribution of the heavy

metals and oil residues showed higher average concentrations at the point of impact

than 20 meters away. Relative Pollution Potential gave positive values for the metals

and oil contents in all sites.

Statistics