Distribution of Heavy Metals in Peri-Urban Agricultural Areas Soils

In industry oriented pen-urban areas, the heavy metals accumulation in soils caused by industrialization has become a potential threat. The top soil sample from 48 agricultural fields were collected from a typical industry based pen-urban areas (Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Kasur, Islamabad, WahCantt) of Punjab, Pakistan to study the accumulation and distribution of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The aim of the study was to investigate influence of an industrialized environment on the accumulation of heavy metals in pen-urban agricultural soils. The results of the study showed that the Pb content in the soil ranged from 17.24 to 126.4 mg/kg and the highest Pb content was observed in Islamabad soil samples, and the lowest in that of Multan area. The Cd content ranged from 1.1 to 4.0 mg/kg in Lahore while the highest Cr concentration level was 210.2mg/kg and it was observed in Kasur and lowest 30.60 in that of Multan. The Cu content ranged from 31.2 to 127.9 mg/kg (Kasur-Lahore). The highest Ni concentration (82.0 mg/kg) was observed in Lahore from the urban area and the lowest level of 12.15 mg/kg was observed in Multan. The Zn content ranged from 42.5 to 267.7 mg/kg (Faisalabad-WahCantt). The study concluded that the concentration level of the heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn) in the studied pen-urban areas was higher as compared to heavy metal content of normal Dutch soil. High automobile traffic and industrial waste both are the most likely sources of the contamination of the peri urban areas of Pakistan.