Concentration and Distribution of Heavy Metals Residues in Soil (S) around Lake Geriyo in Adamawa State

Abstract

The accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils is of increasing concern because of food safety issues, potential health risks such as neurological disorder, cancer, kidney damage, fragile bone etc and their detrimental effects on soil ecosystem. The regular monitoring of levels of these metals from dump sites, effluents and sewages in soil and drinking water is essential to prevent excessive buildup of these metals thereby increasing toxicity and elevating the public health risk. The research work have been undertake to determine the concentration and distribution of heavy metals residue in soil around lake Geriyo and to compare the concentration of the heavy metals from the research site with WHO standards and international threshold levels. The concentration and distribution of heavy metals residue such as the lead, cadmium, chromium, zinc and copper was determined to be 4.527 mg/kg, 2.012mg/kg, 3.125mg/kg, 175.066mg/kg and 63.553mg/kg respectively for Shinko site. And 2.745kg/mg, 0.926mg/kg, 0.865mg/kg, 68.009mg/kg and 25.115mg/kg respectively for control site. The result of the research indicate that the soils samples mean Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn and Cu levels were above the WHO standard limit while the Pb and Cr were far below the WHO standard limits. Comparative analysis of this research and International threshold values of heavy metals concentration levels in soil revealed that most of the parameters at Shinko site soil are below the EU, USA and UK Standards. These levels may be tolerated by following precautionary measures in agricultural activities.