Assessment of background levels of trace metals in water and soil from a remote region of Himalaya

Abstract

Selected trace metals were estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry in the water and soil samples collected from the remote region of Himalaya. The soil samples were analysed for soluble and acid extractable fraction of trace metals. In water samples, Ca, Na, Mg and K emerged as dominant contributors, whereas, Ca, Na, K, Mg, Fe and Pb were estimated at comparatively higher levels in the water extract of the soil. In case of acid extract of the soil samples, Ca, K, Fe, Mg, Mn and Na were found at elevated concentrations. Based on mean levels of the metals, following decreasing concentration order was observed in water samples: Ca > Na > Mg > K > Pb > Co > Cu > Zn > Mn > Cr > Fe > Cd > Li, however, in the acid extract of the soil, following order was noted: Ca > K > Fe > Mg > Mn > Na > Pb > Zn > Cr > Li > Cu > Co > Cd. The correlation study revealed appreciably diverse mutual relationships of trace metals in the water and soil samples. The multivariate cluster analyses exhibited divergent apportionment of trace metals in water and soil samples. Among the trace metals, Cd, Pb, Li, Zn, Cr, Cu, Mn and Co exhibited extreme to significant anthropogenic enrichment in the soil samples, while the rest of the metals were mostly contributed by the natural processes.

Occurrence, risk assessment, and source apportionment of heavy metals in surface sediments from Khanpur Lake, Pakistan

“…The PCA was performed using varimax normalized rotation on the dataset, and the CA was applied to the standardized matrix of the samples using Ward's method, and the results are reported in the form of dendrograms. PCA and CA complement each other and have been widely used in environmental studies (Gielar et al 2012;Iqbal and Shah 2011;Shah et al 2012;Singh et al 2005).…”

“…Heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn) in the sediment samples were analyzed using a flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Shimadzu AA-670, Kyoto, Japan). The calibration line method was used for quantification of the metals, and the samples were appropriately diluted whenever required (Radojevic and Bashkin 1999;Shah et al 2012). The optimum analytical conditions used for the quantification of the selected metals on the spectrophotometer are given in Table 1.…”

Hydrochemical Characteristics and Water Quality Assessment of Surface Water at Xiahe County in Tibetan Plateau Pastoral of China

“…The collected samples of surface water were immediately transferred, without any addition of a chemical stabilizer, to the laboratory at Lanzhou university environmental science research institute for the chemical analysis [38] . All water samples were stored below 4℃.…”

“…The water quality parameters monitored each water sample includes, turbidity, COD, pH, calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, ammonia, nitrate, fluoride, EC, etc. Along with the on-site measurement of the pH and conductivity was done due to expected change in the measurement during the process transport and storage [38][39][40][41] , Analytical methods and parameters summarized in Table 1 are based on standard methods founded for surface water monitoring in China [42] .…”

Watershed-scale assessment of background concentrations and guidance values for heavy metals in soils from a semiarid and coastal zone of Brazil

“…Specific adsorption onto iron and manganese oxides is probably the major process related to Fe (Cd-Cr-Cu) and Mn (ZnCr-Cu-Ni) correlations. For instance, the nonspecific and specific adsorption mechanisms of Cd to Fe oxides (Kookana et al 1999); nonetheless, high correlations among heavy metals do not afford easy explanation as discussed by Shah et al (2012), who suggested the use of multivariate statistical techniques (e.g., principal components and/or cluster analysis) in order to provide further explanation. Fe and Cd correlation has also been observed by Fadigas et al (2002), who carried out a PCA with topsoils samples from Ultisols and Oxisols as well as Oliveira et al (2014), who determined the cadmium QRVs for soils of São Paulo state, Brazil.…”