Six forest locations were chosen from urban (U) and semi-urban (SU) zones of Sofia, Bulgaria. Soil profiles characterised for their generic physico-chemical properties: particle size distribution, pH, C-content (%) and N-content (%). From the ratio silt/clay and C/N, significant differences were observed for the Ah horizon in the urban and semi-urban locations. Clay formation appeared to be reduced in this horizon in the urban soils and the C-content is higher in semi-urban soils in comparison with the urban soils. On the base of the results obtained, a reduction of the buffering capability is noted for the topsoil of the urban sites compared to the semi-urban sites.
We studied the contamination of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in soils under oak ecosystems of urban (U), suburban (SU), and rural (R) regions in Sofia, Bulgaria. The urban sampling sites are located in the large forest parks of Sofia under oak ecosystems, while the others are located between the centre of the town and the surrounding mountains and are also from oak ecosystems. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in soils were measured for identifying the sources and degree of contamination, and calculating the concentration coefficients (Hc) and enrichment factors (EF). The result of applying principal component analysis (PCA), showed that Cd and Pb accounted for the anthropogenic pollution and could be inferred as its tracers, whereas Cu is located mainly in the parent material. The Zn concentration levels were controlled both by its original content in the parent material as well as by anthropogenic pollution. The results obtained for the city forest parks allow for their successful use for recreation purposes.
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