Heavy Metals Concentration in the Soil from Flower Beds, Parks and Green Areas of Karachi

摘要

Environmental pollution of heavy metals from automobiles has attained much attention in recent past. The present research was conducted to study the heavy metal contamination in road side soils of Karachi. Road side soil samples were collected from 29 sites and analyzed for heavy metals like Lead, Copper, Manganese and Zinc respectively. Lead concentration was the highest in the soil and ranged from 70 to 361 mg/kg, copper from 42 to 144 mg/kg, manganese from 43 to 128 mg/kg and zinc concentration from 51 to 213 mg/kg respectively. The gravitational sedimentation and impact on vegetation of coarse fraction is responsible for the high lead contamination of vegetation and soils. The data collected shows that almost all the pollution is being generated by automobile exhaust in urban areas of Karachi. Soil act as important sink for pollutants released through different activities.