Determination of Physicochemical and Some Heavy Metal of Soil around Dana Steel Industry Limited Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the physicochemical parameters and level of some Heavy metal concentrations in dumpsites soil around Dana steel limited dumpsite located in latitude 12º 57¹ 43¹¹N to 12º 58¹ 7¹¹N, Longitude 7º 37¹11¹¹E to 7º 37¹ 16¹¹E and altitude 522.5m to 616.6m in Katsina state of Nigeria were investigated in this research. Soil samples were collected from the dumpsite and control site at depths ranges 0- <10cm, 10- <20cm, 20- <30cm and 30-<40cm. The result of physicochemical parameters within the samples A, B, C,D and the control shows that there is a significant difference between contaminated and control soil. This is a clear indication of low moisture and organic matter content observed in the entire sampling site. For the heavy metals contents, Atomic Absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to obtain the composition and concentration of the six studied heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni, and Pb). The Result obtained in this research showed that Pb had the highest concentration with the ranged average of 16.464-11.741mg/kg and Fe which has the lowest concentration with 0.219-0.379mg/kg. Statistical significant difference was observed between the mean of toxic metal concentration in the dumpsite and control area which suggested the effect of anthropogenic inputs, Therefore, the results indicated that the area under investigation was polluted with Cr, Fe and Cu withrespect to heavy metals content in contaminated soil and low Fe content with respect to the control soil. Somemetals content investigated were above the US EPAstandard of heavy metals in soils that requires cleanup

Keywords

• Soil
• heavy metals
• Dana steel
• environment; physicochemical