Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination in Surface Soils of Ahvaz IV Industrial Estate, Khuzestan Province, Iran

Background and Purpose: In the environment, heavy metals in high concentration are toxic to most organisms. Human activities have continuously increased the concentration of these metals in the environment such as soils. In the present study, soil samples collected from Ahvaz IV industrial estate in Khuzestan Province. Materials and Methods: The soil samples were taken from 9 stations in 4 cardinal directions at two distances (300 and 600 m) with three replicates in 2013. Samples subjected to bulk digestion and chemical partitioning. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Ni, and Sn in soil were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. We used geoaccumulation index (I-geo) and pollution index (Ipoll) to assessment the soil contamination in the soil samples. Furthermore, all statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package. Results: I-geo and Ipoll results indicated that the soil samples are unpolluted to moderately polluted for all metals. The anthropogenic portion of metals are as follows: Fe (93%) > Ni (84.2%) > Mn (79.5%) > Sn (64%). Furthermore, the percent of anthropogenic pollution was more than percent of the natural portion. Conclusion: Metals concentration had the highest rate at a distance of 300 m from the contaminant of the source. The result of cluster analysis showed that there is strong relationship among all metals.