Bioaccessibility and Distribution of Heavy Metals in Particles from a Dust Storm in Iraq

Abstract

The issue of dust storms in Iraq is one of the issues that has caused Iraq to suffer economic and health losses and requires immediate attention. Nine of Iraq’s most important cities provided the collected samples. Atomic spectrometry was used to analyze dust samples for heavy metals such as lead, zinc, cadmium, nickel, copper, and chromium. The analysis was based on the particle size of the dust samples. The SBET was utilized for the goal of determining the scope of the threat posed by all of these elements of the dust storm and the impact they have on the health of humans. The results showed that Basra had the highest value of relative bioaccessibility of zinc (73.87%) in dust particle size (200 μm), whereas Samawah had the lowest value for cadmium (0.90%). Both values were based on the dust particle size. The relative bioaccessibility of cadmium was found to be at its highest in Najaf (85.80%) in dust particle 63 μm, whereas the relative bioaccessibility of lead was found to be at its lowest in Diwaniyah (0.28%). In addition, the findings demonstrated that the relative bioaccessibility of zinc was maximum in Amarah at a particle size of 75 μm (89.56%). The value distributions were sorted where there was high contamination of heavy metals during a dust storm from dark blue to yellow. With Kirkuk city having the highest concentration of Cr in size particle 75, the spatial distribution of Cu was notably distinct from other areas in Baghdad and Basra, where it was highest in particle sizes 63 and 200 μm. This study is important in order to determine the amount of human health damage and to control dust storms in Iraq.