Investigation of soil geochemistry characteristics of the south of aksaray province

The scope of this study is to examine the soil geochemistry of an area of approximately 200 km2, located in the south of Aksaray city center, between Yeşilova, Kutlu, Karaören and Karacaören settlements. In this respect, a total of 54 samples were taken from the B horizon of the soil profile in the gridded area of approximately 2.25 km x 2.25 km and then were analyzed for the main element oxide and some trace elements with Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (WDXRF). The collected data were first analyzed statistically, then the pollution potential of the region was visualized with the help of geographic information systems (GIS). The mean concentrations of Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Mn, Fe, Cr, Cd in the samples are 23.90, 103.69, 30.51, 67.11, 14.29, 54.16, 759.80, 3110.10, 157.60 and 0.1 ppm, respectively. All elements except Cr and Ni are found to be normal according to pollution regulations of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, and World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standards. Besides, examinations with the help of indices such as Enrichment Factor (EF), Geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and Pollution Factor (Cf) showed that As, Ni, Pb and Cr element contents of all samples are high. According to the distribution maps prepared for As, Ni, Cr, Pb elements, it is observed that the northern, western and southeastern parts of the study area have higher concentrations than the other parts. Especially the samples located in the northern parts of the study area have higher values compared to the other samples, suggesting that there may be a local enrichment due to industrial activities. As a result, it can be said that all the elements are generally related to the geological features of the region, except for some local areas.