Investigation the heavy metal soil pollution in the south of Adana – Tarsus (Mersin)

This study aims to determine the heavy metal soil pollution in the south of Adana - Tarsus (Mersin) in the southern Turkey. This research involves a total of 134 soil samples which were collected across the Doğankent, Tuzla and Karataş area. Soil samples were subjected to various processing steps in the geochemical laboratory environment. The heavy metal contents of the solutions obtained from these processing steps were analyzed by A.A.S. device. These results were compared to selected five country standards to investigate the existence of any heavy metal pollution in the study area. In addition, all the obtained dataset was transferred to a GIS database and various maps were created. The results from this study shows that existence of high amounts of Cd, Ni, Pb and Cr elements in the vicinity of the study area. Results also shows that Al, Fe, Zn, Hg, As, Cu, Co and Mn elements have occasionally exceeded the standards in the local level however there is no strong evidence of pollution due to these elements in the study area. Pb element has been found to have high values and it has reached its highest points especially where the traffic is concentrated in the vicinity of the road. In addition, insecticides in pastoral areas has been determined as another reason for the high Pb values in the study area. Very high Cd values has been found throughout the region as a result of phosphate fertilizer applications to increase the agricultural productivity. It is estimated that the Ni values are well above the standards due to the ophiolitic rocks and the industrial establishments located near the study area. The reason of the high Cr values has been found across the study area explained by the increased artificial fertilizer applications in the region.