Determination of industrial heavy metal pollution by road dust

Air pollution is one of the most important global problems today. The most harmful components of air pollution are heavy metals. Some of the heavy metals can be toxic, carcinogenic and fatal for human and environmental health even at low concentrations. Even heavy metals, which are essential nutrients for living organisms, are reported to be harmful at high concentrations. Therefore, monitoring and reducing the change of heavy metal pollution is of great importance. The main sources of heavy metal pollution are mining, industrial activities, traffic and urbanization. It is known that heavy metal pollution is quite high especially in the areas around industrial establishments. However, each industrial establishment emits different heavy metals at different levels and causes different heavy metal pollution. In this study, the variation of heavy metal pollution in topsoils (dust) taken from around different industrial establishments was investigated. Within the scope of the study, samples were taken from the dust on the top surface of the soils around 14 factories operating in different sectors. As a reference for the study, samples were also taken from the forested area where there were no industrial establishments around. Thus, the study was conducted in a total of 15 locations. Road dust from these locations was analyzed for 40 heavy metals and the results were evaluated using Analysis of Variance and Duncan test. As a result of the study, the concentrations of Mg, Ca, Fe, As, Bi, B, Cd, Cu, In, Pb, Se, Sr, Sr, Tl, Ge, Pt, Sb, Sn, Ga, Ni, Ag, V, Mo, Nb, Pd, Ti and Zr determined in forest soil are quite low. These results show that the heavy metal content of forest soil is much lower than in other locations, that is, industrial activities are a source of heavy metal pollution. As a result of the study, some heavy metals such as Sc, As, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Ni, Se, Tl, V, Pd, Pt, Sb, Sn and Tl, which are very dangerous for human and living health, were found to be extremely high in the dust around the recycling factory, chemical factory and yeast factory.