Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the ecological risk of heavy metals in soils collected from the industrial vicinity of Tangail district in Bangladesh. In this study, the levels of six heavy metals namely chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) in 15 sampling sites around the industrial vicinity of Tangail district in Bangladesh were assessed. The mean concentration of Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd and Pb in studied soils were 11.56, 23.92, 37.27, 6.11, 2.01, and 17.46 mg/kg, respectively. Certain indices, including the enrichment factor (EF), contamination factor (Cif), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), pollution load index (PLI), toxic unit analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to assess the ecological risk. The enrichment factor of all the studied metals for all sampling sites were in the descending order of Cd > Cu > As > Pb >Ni > Cr. The contamination factor values revealed that the studied soils were highly impacted by Cd. The pollution load index (PLI) values of Cd were higher than 1, indicating the progressive deterioration of soil due to Cd contamination. In the context of potential ecological risk (PER), soils from all sampling sites showed moderate to very high potential ecological risk.
Highlights
This study was conducted to assess the ecological risk of heavy metals in soils collected from the industrial vicinity of Tangail district in Bangladesh
This study revealed that all soil samples from different sites were heavily contaminated by heavy metals especially Cu and Cd (80% and 60% samples exceed the Dutch Soil Quality Target Value)
The enrichment factor (EF), contamination factor (Cif), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), pollution load index (PLI), toxic unit (TU) analysis revealed that soils in this study were highly contaminated by the Cd
Summary
For the survival of human life on the planet, soil act as a dynamic natural resource and regarded as the key receiver of the persistent pollutants like heavy metals (Luo et al 2007, Karim et al 2014, Islam et al 2015, Proshad et al 2018). Soil pollution by heavy metals has become an environmental issue in both developed and developing countries all over the world (Islam et al 2015, Sun et al 2010). As soil contamination arising from industry, the study area has raised attention due to its environmental pollution which is facing serious threats due to heavy metals pollution originated from the rapid development, congestion, and activities from industries (Islam et al 2015, Islam et al 2014).
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