Background & objectives: High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil are considered as a serious risk to human health and the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of heavy metals (Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, As, V and Co) in surface soils of Khuzestan province (2018). Methods: This research is an experimental-applied study. For this purpose, 87 samples of surface soils were collected from Khuzestan province and analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The level of heavy metals (Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, As, V and Co) pollution was estimated based on environmental indicators. Also, the spatial pattern of metal concentrations in surface soils was prepared in GIS (10.2). Results: The average concentration of heavy metals of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V and Zn was 3.22, 0.31, 9.46, 42.67, 23.92, 66.34, 9.09, 35.56 and 46.66 (mg/kg) respectively. The average concentrations of all heavy metals other than cobalt were higher than the baseline value (concentration in the earth's crust). Based on the average value of the enrichment factor (EF), the heavy metals of Co, Cd and Zn have a high contamination. According to the comprehensive evaluation of Nemrow integrated pollution index (NIPI), 40.98% of the samples were in medium pollution and 19.54% of the samples had high pollution. Conclusion: The results of environmental indicators showed that the source of pollution of studied metals was anthropogenic such as traffic, burning fossil fuels, and uncontrolled use of fertilizers, urban wastewater entering the soil, the presence of oil industries in the region and the presence of gases released from the metal industry like the steel industry in the study area.
Vaziri A, Ghanavati N *, Nazarpour A, Babaenejad T. Status, Source and Environmental Pollution Assessment of Some Heavy Metals in Surface Soils of Khuzestan Province. j.health 2021; 11 (5) :664-678 URL: http://healthjournal.arums.ac.ir/article-1-2322-en.html