Investigation of soil contamination in a lubricant retail market in Ikoku, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Abstract

The physicochemical properties, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentration as well as that of lead, zinc, chromium, cadmium and arsenic in soil obtained from a lubricant retail market were determined. The PAHs, lead, chromium and zinc concentrations were found to be higher in comparison to the soil samples obtained from a typical residential area 2 km away. The average values for total PAH concentration in the sample soil were 3.76 /4.70 mg kg^-1 (topsoil/subsoil). The values for the control (topsoil/subsoil) were 0.189/ 0.286 mg kg^-1. The average concentrations of lead, zinc, chromium and cadmium in the sample (top-soil/ sub-soil) were 3.70/ 3.85, 9.7/9.69, 197.29/82.18 and 7.42/3.35 mg kg^-1 respectively while in the same order, their values in the control gave 0.75/0.94, 8.86/9.40, 103.66/59.50 and 4.08/0.87 mg kg^-1. The sample soil also showed an increase in some physicochemical parameters such as Total Organic Carbon (TOC), sulphate and nitrate contents as well conductivity both in the topsoil and the subsoil.