Soil Contamination in Fadama Area in Zaria, Nigeria, Using X-ray Fluorescence Technique

Abstract

In this paper, the contamination level of thirteen elements (Si, Ca, K, V, Ti, Fe, Co. Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr and Nb) from soil samples of the Fadama areas in Zaria, Nigeria were investigated with Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Technique (EDXRF) method. Generally, EDXRF is one of the reliable tools for determining the concentration of trace elements and heavy metals. In this study, the soil contamination level of all heavy metals and trace elements was compared to the range, mean, and median values of the World soil as well as with other studies. The concentrations of Si (30.2%), K (1.98%), Ti (0.49%), V (242 ppm), Zn (149 ppm), Y (50.6 ppm), Zr (884 ppm) and Nb (33.1ppm) are relatively higher than those of the World mean values. Furthermore, comparison to world range values for soil revealed that high concentration ranges are also observed for Zn (56.23-664.53ppm) and Y (32.73-94.37ppm). However, contamination level of all elements was not evenly distributed in the studied area. For instance, the pollution levels of V, Zn, Zr and Nb were higher in the study area. The contamination level of potassium is everywhere lower than the average world value. The level of contamination is determined with help of enrichment factors which gave high values for K, Zn, Rb, Y, Zr, and Nb.

Keywords: Soil contamination, heavy metals, EDXRF, enrichment factor

Journal of the Nigerian Association of Mathematical Physics, Volume 19 (November, 2011), pp 559 – 564