HEAVY METALS DISTRIBUTION AND POLLUTION INDICES OF SCRAPYARDS SOILS

Abstract

The research evaluated the levels and distribution of heavy metals (Mn, Cr, Pb, Cd and Fe) in two (2) metal scrapyard (Site A and Site B) and a control. The soil properties, level of metals concentration, speciation of metals and pollution indices were investigated. Standard techniques were employed in the appraisal. The level of each metal was detected low in the control site while the highest values were recorded for the first scrapyards (Site A). The metal concentration ranges between 0.25 mg/Kg (Cd of control) to 82,313 mg/Kg (Fe of site A). The speciation study also presented a trend showing that the major source of contribution of theses metals (Mn, Cr, Pb, Cd and Fe) were derived from anthropogenic activities of human. The geo-accumulation index ranged between 1.11 (Cr in Site B) to 9.97 (Pb in site A), this shows that the sites ranged from moderately contaminated to extremely contaminated. The other indices such as enrichment and mobility factors presented similarly interesting trends.