Abstract
Heavy metal concentration in road side soils with its potential ecological effects draws much attention in the developing countries. This necessitates the study of their accumulation in the road side soils of Maiduguri (longitude 11° 13’ N; latitude 13° 05’ E), to ensure effective protection of soil from the potential loss of its fertility. In this study, roadside soil samples from major roads (Baga road, Bama road, Ngala road and Kano/Jos road) of Maiduguri were collected and determined the levels of heavy metals (As, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu) in the roadside soil using the Perkin-Elmer analyst 300 Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The results showed that in all the sampling locations, Mn, Zn, Fe and Pb have higher concentration of 137.4±0.04 mg/kg, 392.11±0.07 mg/kg, 13491.70±0.07 mg/kg and 928.50±0.04 mg/kg respectively in roadside soil as compared with Cd of concentration ranges from 0 to maximum of 0.87±0.04mg/kg in Ngala road. The concentrations of Pb and Cd in the soil samples were higher than the recommended value of 48 mg/kg and 5.0 mg/kg respectively. The higher concentration of these metals in the roadside soil samples may be attributed to human activities and traffic volume. Therefore, there is need to further study the concentrations of such heavy metals in agricultural soil, plants and vegetables grown in that area, animals that fed on the plants and any other source that directly or indirectly link to the source of food of the populace.
Highlights
Heavy metal are metallic elements that are having relatively higher density, they are poisonous or toxic to plants and animals at a certain concentration [1, 2]
The concentrations of some heavy metals (As, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu) with respect to depth and distances from the road within Baga Road in Maiduguri Metropolis are presented in Table 1 The mean concentrations ranges from 0.80±0.01 to 2.9±0.02 mg/kg; 17.00±0.01 to 20.40±0.03 mg/kg; 40.80±0.02 to 173.40±0.04 mg/kg; 1185.00±0.04 to 3818.70±0.0011 mg/kg; 0.70±0.02 to 27.00±0.02 mg/kg; 5.90±0.04 to 30.8±0.04 mg/kg; 37.95±0.03 to 192.21±0.07 mg/kg; 0.10±0.10 mg/kg and 3.90±0.4 to 12.80±0.03 mg/kg respectively
The highest concentrations of 2874.5±0.04 mg/kg for Fe were observed at a distance of 2-5 cm. while the least value of 0.20±0.02 mg/kgfor Cd was observed at a distance of 0-2m
Summary
Heavy metal are metallic elements that are having relatively higher density, they are poisonous or toxic to plants and animals at a certain concentration [1, 2]. Road side soils are often contaminated with heavy metals due to different operations of the road transport such as combustion, oil spills, tire and break wear, corrosion of metals and batteries, erosion of road surfaces, metallic parts such as radiator, building materials, lead petrol product, construction work, iron bending and welding of metals. These activities contribute to As, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu contamination in road side soils. There has been considerable number of studies on the concentrations of heavy metals in roadside soils, the vast majority has been carried out in developed countries with long histories of industrialization and extensive use of leaded gasoline since
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