Status of Potentially Harmful Elements (PHEs) in Soils around the Vicinity of a Newly Constructed Sporting Facility in Omagwa, Nigeria

Abstract

A study, intended to generate pre- urbanization baseline data of the soils at the Greater Port Harcourt site of the new stadium, the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, has been conducted. Concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb) and physicochemical properties of surface and sub-surface soils at the study sites have been determined using spectrophotometric and other standard methods. The results indicate that the pH of the soil ranged between 5.3 and 6.2 while the percent organic carbon ranged between 1.73 – 2.50 %. The ranges of the percentages of total organic matter and total nitrogen in the soil were 2.98 – 4.31% and 0.24 – 0.34% respectively. The particle size distribution results obtained for sand, silt and clay were 59.0 – 74.0 %, 3.8 – 6.0 %, and 21.2 – 37.2 %, respectively. The mean concentrations of the metals for surface and sub-surface soils were respectively as follows: Cd (0.21±0.05 mg/kg and 0.24±0.15mg/kg); Cr (1.98 ± 1.07 mg/kg and 2.23 ± 1.67 mg/kg); Cu (11.8 ± 4.48 mg/kg and 12.4 ± 5.40 mg/kg); Ni (2.39 ± 0.66 mg/kg and 2.46 ± 0.53 mg/kg) and Pb (1.32 ± 0.87 mg/kg and 1.23 ± 0.88 mg/kg). The results indicate that the levels of the physicochemical characteristics in the soils of the study area are, in general, lower than soils in the city that have long been disturbed as a result of anthropogenic inputs. On the other hand, the heavy metal levels were similar in both surface and sub- surface soil samples. This may be as a result of the geogenic nature of the sites. However, the pristine nature of the study sites may be responsible for the relatively lower metal levels compared with disturbed soils in the city. These values thus provide baseline data for the study area. @JASEM