Journal of Research in Environmental Health

Journal of Research in Environmental Health

Evaluation of some heavy metals and possible health and ecological risk indicators of surface soils of the west of the country: A case study

Authors
Hosna Pour Abbasi 1
Khoshnaz Payanadeh 2
Mehrnoosh Tadayouni 1
1 Department of Food Industries, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
2 Department of Soil Science, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
10.22038/jreh.2024.24335
Abstract
Background and Purpose: Although many studies have been conducted on the importance of heavy metals listed among common pollutants for human health, no study has been conducted in West Islamabad and Sanandaj soils. This present research goes ahead to assess the levels of pollution and the potential risks the pollutants pose to the ecology, as well ashuman health in general.

Materials and Methods: Here is the method: 5 stations were selected in the course of study of the cities of Islamabad and Sanandaj, and from each station, 5 soil samples were taken with 3 replications from 3 different points in a depth from surface soil up to 12 cm and 30 cm in it. Several180 soil samples were gathered by casual systematic sampling. In the current research, the contents of heavy metals were measured by the Varian Company ICP-OES model Varian 710-ES. Health risk assessment by heavy metals was determined based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's method of health risk assessment, and heavy metal geological risk assessment based on Hakanson's method.

Results: The content of cadmium metal was significantly the lowest among the studied heavy metals (P=0.997). Index values in the pattern of risk potential assessment of heavy metals in the soils of Islamabad region as mercury 19.24> cadmium 12.74> nickel 1.62> manganese 0.77> arsenic 0.40> copper 0.26> lead 0.207> zinc 0.14 and in soils Sanandaj was in the pattern of mercury 12.33> cadmium 10.44> nickel 0.77> arsenic 0.65> manganese 0.63> copper 0.39> zinc 0.13> lead 0.117. The highest risk index of soil heavy metals in Islamabad and Sanandaj region was obtained for children through skin absorption of 2.53 and 3.3×10-10 for aluminum and cadmium metal, respectively.

Conclusion: The enrichment of iron metaland manganese is very high in this research.The high enrichment factorfor aluminium, mercury, and cadmium, while nickel, copper, and arsenic are moderately enriched in the Islamabad region. It might, therefore, be concluded that soils in Islamabad and Sanandaj regions are influenced by heavy metals arising from the region's artificial resources.
 
Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords
Human Health Risk
Ecological Risk Index
Heavy Metals
Surface Soils
Pollution Indicators
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