
Assessment of the effects of municipal landfills on the metal pollution in the surrounding soils: A case study in Iraq
Author(s) -
Jawad K. Al-Rifaie,
Suad Mohammed Heil,
Saheb K. Khamees,
Saad Alajmi,
David Yeboah,
Mawada Abdellatif,
Ahmed AlKayyat
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/1058/1/012008
Subject(s) - environmental chemistry , soil water , chromium , pollution , inductively coupled plasma , copper , metal , heavy metals , environmental science , soil test , chemistry , contamination , nickel , soil science , ecology , physics , plasma , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , biology
The present investigation has been devoted to assessing the environmental impacts of a local landfill, in the north of Hilla city, Iraq, on the surrounding soils in terms of heavy metal pollution. The concentrations of heavy metals, namely chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) were measured during, November 2019, at three investigation sites that located at distances of 10 (site 1), 20 (site 2) and 30 m (site 3) from the edge of the mentioned landfill. Soil samples were collected from these sites at a constant depth of 20 cm. The collected samples were air-dried, manually crushed, and sieved through a 2 mm mesh before subjecting them to a chemical digesting process. The concentrations of the targeted metals were measured using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and compared to the standards of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). The obtained results showed that the highest concentrations of the targeted metals were in site 1, while the lowest concentrations were detected at site 3. Generally, it was found that the concentrations of the studied metals followed the order: Cr>Pb>Ni>Cu. Additionally, it was noticed that all the measured concentrations were within the limitations of the SEPA.