Biochemistry & Analytical Biochemistry

Abstract

Heavy Metal Content in Soil in Garki Area Council of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

Suleiman Kabiru, Rufai Yakubu, Aminu Lukman, Toba Akintola and Mathias Alegbemi

 This study investigates the concentration of Heavy Metals in soil sample from 15 different locations in Garki area

of Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T) Abuja, Nigeria. The level of Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn, and Zn were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results obtained indicated that these metals on dry weight basis in the soil ranged between (36.60-525.0 μg/g) Pb, (15.00-74.40 μg/g) Cu, (17.50-29.80 μg/g) Zn, (0.7-2.20 μg/g) Cd, (16.16-24.60 μg/g) Ni, and (270-558.0 μg/g) Mn. From the results, areas with high traffic density seem to be relatively high in concentration of tested metals than those from less traffic density. A significant correlation was found between traffic density and metal concentrations. The soil PH of the sample sites varies on the average from 6.44 to 7.24 in water indicating only a slightly acidic to neural. Generally, the concentrations obtained were higher than the tolerable limit for safe environment as prescribed by Nigeria Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) and World Health Organization (WHO).