A chemical and multivariate statistical approach to assess the spatial variability of soil quality for environment around the Tamabil coal stockpile, Sylhet

Abstract

Abstract Background The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of soil for environment in terms of the spatial distribution patterns of some selected elements such as pH, total nitrogen (N2), sulfur (S), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), and arsenic (As) in 42 surface and sub-surface soil samples. These samples were collected from different locations around the coal stockpiles of Tamabil, Sylhet. However, primarily the collected soil samples were tested in the laboratory. Consequently, these data were computed and justified under multivariate statistical approaches for example correlation matrix, principal component, and factor analysis. Results The examined soils showed a high variability in the element concentrations especially in the case of pH and sulfur. The principal component and factor analyses reflected that the total variance of surface soil is 79.89% whereas it is 80.99% for subsurface soil. This result suggests that the soil-coal interaction with anthropogenic impact is the dominant factors for affecting the soil quality. The correlation matrix of surface and subsurface soil, from where it is cleared that there is no parameters are neither strongly positively correlated nor negatively correlated with each other. It implies that the heterogeneous source of different components of soil and possible ionic variability may be contributed from multiple anthropogenic sources. Conclusions At the end based on the present analysis, the soil quality of the study area is becoming acidic. If precautions are not taken immediately, the people and other living organisms will face difficulties. Therefore, a particular area should be used for coal stocking place, and there should be a proper barrier so that coal can’t mixed with the surrounding soil and water of the environment. Consequently, it will be helpful to prevent the degradation of the environment.

Keywords

• Tamabil coal stockpiles
• Soil chemistry
• Multivariate approach
• Environment