ECOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF UNCOMMON HEAVY METALS CONTAMINATION IN THE SOILS OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCE OF UŞAK, WESTERN TURKIYE

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the concentrations of the uncommon heavy metals (Ag, Bi, Co, Sb, Th, Tl, U, and V) in 90 soil samples obtained from both urban and agricultural lands near Uşak, western Turkiye to investigate dimensions of the existing ecological pollution using geoaccumulation and enrichment factor indices, and to identify their potential pollutants. The concentration values for the selected elements ranged from 0.01 to 0.46 mg/kg for silver (Ag); 0.07 to 0.72 mg/kg for bismuth (Bi); 7.9 to 55.8 mg/kg for cobalt (Co); 0.12 to 27.99 mg/kg antimony (Sb); 3.4 to 17.7 mg/kg for thorium (Th); 0.04 to 0.5 mg/kg for thallium (Tl); 0.3 to 7.3 mg/kg for uranium (U); and 18 to 72 mg/kg for vanadium (V). Igeo values of Ag showed moderate to heavy contamination in the city center of Uşak province. Igeo values of Bi and Sb in the west part of the study area indicated extremely contaminated soils. EF values for Bi and Sb also showed significant enrichment in the soils in the western portion of the study area which further validates that the potential sources for Bi and Sb heavy metals contaminations might be anthropogenic.

Keywords

• Uncommon heavy metals contamination
• Geoaccumulation index
• Enrichment Factor
• Bismuth
• Antimony

References

1. [1] Duffus, J. H. (2002). Heavy metals a meaningless term (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure and applied chemistry, 74(5), 793-807.
2. [2] Kahvecioğlu, Ö., Kartal, G., Güven, A., and Timur, S. (2009). Metallerin çevresel etkileri. Metalurji Dergisi, 136(1), 47-53.
3. [3] Ljung, K., Selinus, O., and Otabbong, E. (2006). Metals in soils of children's urban environments in the small northern European city of Uppsala. Science of the Total Environment, 366(2-3), 749-759.
4. [4] Nieć, J., Baranowska, R., Dziubanek, G., and Rogala, D. (2013). Children’s exposure to heavy metals in the soils of playgrounds, sports fields, sandpits and kindergarten grounds in the region of Upper Silesia. Journal of Ecology and Health, 17(2), 55–62.
5. [5] Witkowska, D., Slowik, J., and Chilicka, K. (2021). Heavy Metals and Human Health: Possible Exposure Pathways and the Competition for Protein Binding Sites. Molecules, 26(19), 6060.
6. [6] Özbolat, G., and Tuli, A. (2016). Ağır Metal Toksisitesinin İnsan Sağlığına Etkileri. Arşiv Kaynak Tarama Dergisi, 25(4), 502-521.
7. [7] Tok, H. H. (1997). Çevre kirliliği. Anadolu Matbaa Ambalaj San Tic Ltd Şti, İstanbul, p:266-283.
8. [8] Kolesnikov, S., Minnikova, T., Kazeev, K., Akimenko, Y., and Evstegneeva, N. (2022). Assessment of the ecotoxicity of pollution by potentially toxic elements by biological indicators of haplic chernozem of Southern Russia (Rostov region). Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 233(1), 18.

9. [9] TÜİK. (2021). Turkish Statistical Institute, Road Motor Vehicles News Bulletin-Oct-No: 45712.
10. [10] Ercan, T., Dincel, A., Metin, S., Türkecan, A., and Günay, E. (1978). Geology of the Neogene basins in Uşak region. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Turkey, 21(1), 97-106.
11. [11] Rose A. W., Hawkes H. E., and Webb J. S, (1991). Volatiles and airborne particulates. Geochemistry in Mineral Exploration, 2nd edition. Academic Press, 501-503.
12. [12] Thomson, I. (1986). Exploration geochemistry: design and interpretation of soil surveys. Reviews of Economic Geology, 3(1), 1-18.
13. [13] Chen, M., and Ma, L.Q. (2001). Comparison of three aqua regia digestion methods for twenty Florida soils. American Society of Soil Science Journal, 65(1), 491-499.
14. [14] ESRI. (2019). ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.7.1: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA.
15. [15] Müller, G. (1969). Index of geoaccumulation in sediments of the Rhine River. Geojournal, 2(1), 108-118.
16. [16] Miko, S., Peh, Z., Bukovec, D., Prohic, E., and Kastmüller, Z. (2000). Geochemical baseline mapping and Pb pollution assessment of soils in the karst in Western Croatia. Natura Croatica, 9 (1), 41-59.
17. [17] Loska, K., Wiechula, D., Barska, B., Cebula, E., and Chojnecka, A. (2003). Assessment of arsenic enrichment of cultivated soils in Southern Poland. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 12(2), 187-192.
18. [18] Sengupta, S., Chatterjee, T., Ghosh, P. B., and Saha, T. (2010). Heavy metal accumulation in agricultural soils around a coal-fired thermal power plant (Farakka) in India. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 52(4), 299-306.
19. [19] Chung, S., and Chon, H.T. (2014). Assessment of the level of mercury contamination from some anthropogenic sources in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 147(1), 237-244.
20. [20] Vural, A. (2014). Toprak ve Akasya Ağacı Sürgünlerindeki İz/Ağır Metal Dağılımı, Gümüşhane-Türkiye. Maden Tetkik ve Arama Dergisi, 148(1), 85-106.
21. [21] Yildiz, U., and Ozkul, C. (2022). Spatial distribution and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals contamination of urban soils within Uşak, western Turkiye. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2022.2154661.
22. [22] Mielke, J. E. (1979). Composition of the Earth's crust and distribution of the elements. Review of Research on Modern Problems in Geochemistry, 13-37.
23. [23] Buat-Menard, P., and Chesselet, R. (1979). Variable influence of the atmospheric flux on the trace metal chemistry of oceanic suspended matter. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 42(3), 399-411.
24. [24] Barbieri, M. (2016). The Importance of Enrichment Factor (EF) and Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo) to Evaluate the Soil Contamination. Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 5(1), 1-4.
25. [25] Özkul, C. (2016). Heavy metal contamination in soils around the Tunçbilek thermal power plant (Kütahya, Turkey). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 188(5), 1-12.
26. [26] Quevauviller, P., Lavigne, R., and Cortez, L. (1989). Impact of industrial and mine drainage wastes on the heavy metal distribution in the drainage basin and estuary of the Sado River (Portugal). Environmental Pollution, 59(4), 267-286.
27. [27] Pacyna, J. M., and Winchester, J. W. (1990). Contamination of the global environment as observed in the Arctic. Global and Planetary Change, 2(1-2), 149-157.
28. [28] Schiff, K. C., and Weisberg, S.B. (1999). Iron as a reference element for determining trace metal enrichment in Southern California coastal shelf sediments. Marine Environmental Research, 48(2), 161-176.
29. [29] Reimann, C., and de Caritat, P. (2000). Intrinsic flaws of element enrichment factors (EFs) in environmental geochemistry. Environmental Science and Technology, 34(1), 5084–91.
30. [30] Sutherland, R. A. (2000). Bed sediment-associated trace metals in an urban stream, Oahu, Hawaii. Environmental Geology, 39(1), 611–27.
31. [31] Resmi Gazete. (2005). Toprak Kirliliğinin Kontrolü Yönetmeliği. Çevre ve Ormancılık Bakanlığı, Turkiye. No: 25831, 31.05.2005.
32. [32] Coşkun, M., Steinnes, E., Frontasyeva, M. V., Sjobakk, T. E., and Demkina, S. (2006). Heavy metal pollution of surface soil in the Thrace region, Turkey. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 119(1), 545-556.
33. [33] Vodyanitskii, Y. N. (2012). Standards for the contents of heavy metals and metalloids in soils. Eurasian Soil Science, 45(1), 321-328.
34. [34] Timofeev, I., Kosheleva, N., and Kasimov, N. (2018). Contamination of soils by potentially toxic elements in the impact zone of tungsten‑molybdenum ore mine in the Baikal region: A survey and risk assessment. Science of the Total Environment, 642(1), 63-76.
35. [35] Adnan, M., Xiao, B., Xiao, P., Zhao, P., Li, R., and Bibi, S. (2022). Research progress on heavy metals pollution in the soil of smelting sites in China. Toxics, 10(5), 231.
36. [36] Yan, G., Mao, L., Jiang, B., Chen, X., Gao, Y., Chen, C., Li, F., and Chen, L. (2020). The source apportionment, pollution characteristic and mobility of Sb in roadside soils affected by traffic and industrial activities. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 384(1), 121-352.
37. [37] Tian, H., Zhou, J., Zhu, C., Zhao, D., Gao, J., Hao, J., He, M., Liu, K., Wang, K., and Hua, S. (2014). A comprehensive global inventory of atmospheric antimony emissions from anthropogenic activities, 1995–2010. Environmental Science and Technology, 48(17), 10235-10241.
38. [38] Herath, I., Vithanage, M., and Bundschuh, J. (2017). Antimony as a global dilemma: Geochemistry, mobility, fate and transport. Environmental Pollution, 223(1), 545-559.
39. [39] He, M., Wang, N., Long, X., Zhang, C., Ma, C., Zhong, Q., Wang, A., Wang, Y., Pervaiz, A., and Shan, J. (2019). Antimony speciation in the environment: Recent advances in understanding the biogeochemical processes and ecological effects. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 75(1), 14-39.