Heavy Metal Content of Soil in Garki Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the concentration of Heavy Metals in soil sample from 15 different locations in Garki area of Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T) Abuja, Nigeria. The soil PH of the sample sites varies on the average from 6.44 to 7.24 in water indicating only a slightly acidic to neural. The level of Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn, and Zn were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results obtained indicated that these metals on dry weight basis in the soil ranged between (36.60-525.0 µg/g) Pb, (15.00-74.40 µg/g) Cu, (17.50-29.80 µg/g) Zn, (0.7- 2.20 µg/g) Cd, (16.16-24.60 µg/g) Ni, and (270-558.0 µg/g) Mn. From the results, areas with high traffic density seem to be relatively high in concentration of tested metals than those from less traffic density. A significant correlation was found between traffic density and metal concentrations. Generally, the concentrations obtained were much higher than the tolerable limit for safe environment as prescribed by National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and Wo rld Health Organization (WHO).Keywords - Heavy metals, soil, concentration, traffic density