Urban geochemistry : heavy metals distribution in soils of the rapidly developing province of Sahab City in Central Jordan

Abstract EN

A geochemical survey of soils in the rapidly developing province at the city of Sahab, contra! Jordan, has been carried out to investigate the heavy metal abundances and distribution in the city soils.

Fifty-six soil samples from 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths were collected on a grid basis of 500m X 500m and were analyzed for heavy metals using the sequential extraction with de-ionized water and 0.01M HN03 respectively.

The main anthropogenic sources for the most additional quantities of the heavy metals were found to be in decreasing order of influence as follows: industrial, traffic, and residential activities.

King Abdullah the Second Bin Al-Hussein Industrial Estate (KAIE) was not confirmed as a potential source of pollution due to the short time of influence and the northwesterly prevailing winds.

All of the heavy metals are concentrated on surface soil, and decreased in the lower part, which reflects their low mobility due to soil nature and its high pH values.

Although some heavy metal concentrations such as Pb, Zn, Cd, Fe, Cu, and Ni are high in some locations, but they do not represent serious pollution.

However, it indicates the effect of rapidly growing rates of human related activities on changing the chemistry of the environment in the study area.