Heavy Metals Speciation in Dust Samples from Various Parts of Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Dust on our roads constitutes a major source of environmental hazard. Little attention is paid to the enormous challenges resulting from its polluting effect and health implications. In this investigation, twenty five dust samples were collected from 5 locations within Ebonyi North, South and Central Senatorial Zones between March and April 2008. Dust samples were collected using 1m2 HDPE containers, oven dried at 70OC and sieved through 100ìm nylon sieve. 1g of each sample was digested using HCl/HNO3/H2O2 acid mixture and the concentration levels of 8 selected metals were measured using ICP-MS. Average concentrations of heavy metals in dust samples were 518.6ppb, 13.7ppb, 128.48ppb, 6540.20ppb, 6.19ppb, 10.84ppb, 1.06ppb and 6.69ppb for Al, Ca, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn, Cd and Pb respectively while the relative abundance of metals in samples were: Fe > Al > Mn > Ca > Zn > Pb > Cd. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Positive and negative correlations exist between the heavy metals indicating that they come from both point and non-point sources into the atmosphere. One way repeat measures ANOVA at P<0.05 (95% confidence level) show that Fcal (1.99)