Evaluation of some pollutant levels in environmental samples collected from the area of the new campus of Taif University

Abstract

The levels of radioactivity and heavy metals in soil, plant and groundwater samples collected from the area of the new campus of Taif University, Saudi Arabia, and its neighbouring areas have been determined. High-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy was used for radioactivity measurements, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy was used to determine the concentration of heavy metals. The means of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K concentrations in water samples collected from four wells were found to be 0.13±0.03, 0.05±0.03 and 1.3±0.5 Bq l−1, respectively. The means of 238U, 226Ra, 228Ra (232Th for soil samples) and 40K concentrations in wild plant and soil samples were found to be 3.7±4.1, 8.8±11.6, 3.8±2.9 and 1025±685, and 8.6±3.4, 12.8±3.4, 16.6±7.1 and 618±82 Bq kg−1 dry weight (DW), respectively. The 137Cs of artificial origin was also detected in soil samples with a mean concentration of 3.8±2.2 Bq kg−1 DW. Evaluating the results, it can be concluded that the concentrations of 238U, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in soil samples fall within the world average. Furthermore, 19 trace and major elements in groundwater samples and 22 elements in soil and plant samples were determined. The sampling locations of soil can be classified into three groups (relatively high, medium and low polluted) according to their calculated metal pollution index using the contents of trace and major elements. A cluster analysis of the contents of radioactivity and trace element contents in soil samples shows the presence of two main distinct clusters of sampling locations.