Vehicular stress a cause for heavy metal accumulation and change in physico-chemical characteristics of road side soils in Pahalgam

Abstract

In an effort to determine vehicular impact on soil quality, soil samples were collected from three different zones (Pahalgam, Batakote, and Chandanwari) in Pahalgam forest ecosystem. Results showed that a significant decrease in moisture content, organic carbon, available nitrogen, and potassium was observed in nearby road side soils. However, pH was observed to be on neutral side and available phosphorus recorded high concentration. The concentration of heavy metals Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, and Cd estimated was also significantly high. Furthermore, concentration of Pb at high vehicular load subzones was observed to be highest (1.168 mg/Kg) followed by Zn (0.896 mg/Kg), Ni (0.649 mg/Kg), Cu (0.415 mg/Kg), and Cd (0.079 mg/Kg). An inter-zone analysis revealed that the concentration of the heavy metals (Pb > Ni > Cd) was observed to follow the trend, Z-I > Z-II > Z-III. Variation along the temporal gradient and the impact on soil qualities were notably higher in summer. Vehicular pollution to a great extent impacts physico-chemical characteristics and more interestingly adds substantial concentration of heavy metals in soils.

Effect of vehicular pollution on physicochemical parameters and accumulation of heavy metals along roadside soils in Sonamarg forest ecosystem

“…Heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd) showed an increasing trend in their content with increased urbanization and transportation (Aksoy and Ozturk, 1996) [3] . These results were in agreement with findings of Aksoy and Ozturk (1996) [3] ; Paggotto et al [27] ; Panda and Dhal (2015) [24] ; Singh et al (2018) [31] . During the study, the positive correlation was observed between pH and the concentration of heavy metals in the soils (table 4).…”

“…Higher pH and electrical conductivity near to the highway and lower away from highway could be due to decline of forest flora. These results were found in concordance with results of Grigalaviciene et al (2005); Joshi et al (2010) [15] ; Das and Dkhar (2011) and Shah and Jeelani (2015); Singh et al (2018) [31] . Higher moisture content was found in spring season as compared to the autumn season which may be attributed to high rate of precipitation in spring than autumn.…”

“…From the [10] ; Singh et al (2018) [31] . Generally the forest soil is characterized by slightly acidic to neutral pH in nature.…”

Assessment of the Heavy Metal Contamination of Roadside Soils Alongside Buddha Nullah, Ludhiana, (Punjab) India

“…It is well established that soil physico-chemical characterization plays a key role in exploring the composition of soil and evaluating soil pollution [26,27]. Many studies across the world have been conducted to explore the physico-chemical characteristics of roadside soil in different regions [10,[28][29][30][31][32].…”

Degradation effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus on some heavy metals experimentally inoculated in fish fillet model

“…Referring to the nature of fish feeding systems, fishes can accumulate heavy metals in their tissues more than surrounding environment as they feed mainly on organic matters, algae and other small organisms which were previously uptake surrounding environmental pollution by heavy metals (Olaifa et al, 2004). The prominent sources of heavy metal contamination are agricultural inputs, domestic and commercial sewage, untreated or partially treated effluents from small and large scale industrial units (Morais et al, 2012); metal electroplating, manufacture and disposal of batteries (Chen et al 2012), circuit boards, car repair, motor workshops (Singh et al 2018).…”