Status, Sources and Assessment of Potentially Toxic Element (PTE) Contamination in Roadside Orchard Soils of Gaziantep (Türkiye)

Mustafa Demir, Erdihan Tunç (), Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Ömer Çelik, Awet Tekeste Tsegai, Nevzat Aslan and Sevgi Arslan
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Mustafa Demir: Biology Department, Faculty of Art and Sciences, Gaziantep University, University Boulevard, Şehitkamil, 27310 Gaziantep, Türkiye
Erdihan Tunç: Biology Department, Faculty of Art and Sciences, Gaziantep University, University Boulevard, Şehitkamil, 27310 Gaziantep, Türkiye
Sören Thiele-Bruhn: Soil Science Department, Regional and Environmental Sciences, Trier University, Campus II, D-54286 Trier, Germany
Ömer Çelik: Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Muş Alpaslan University, 49250 Muş, Türkiye
Awet Tekeste Tsegai: Independent Researcher, 1696 Ball Avenue, Grand Rapids, MI 49505, USA
Nevzat Aslan: Pistachio Research Institute, Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry, University Boulevard No: 31, 27060 Gaziantep, Türkiye
Sevgi Arslan: Biology Department, Faculty of Art and Sciences, Gaziantep University, University Boulevard, Şehitkamil, 27310 Gaziantep, Türkiye

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: To identify the sources of contamination with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in roadside orchard soils and to evaluate the potential ecological and environmental impacts in Gaziantep, soil samples from 20 mixed pistachio and olive orchards on roadsides with different traffic densities and at different distances to the roads were analyzed. Concentrations were 23,407.36 ± 4183.76 mg·kg −1 for Fe, 421.78 ± 100.26 mg·kg −1 for Mn, 100.20 ± 41.92 mg·kg −1 for Ni, 73.30 ± 25.58 mg·kg −1 for Cr, 65.03 ± 12.19 mg·kg −1 for Zn, 60.38± 7.91 mg·kg −1 for Pb, 17.74 ± 3.35 mg·kg −1 for Cu, 14.93 ± 4.94 mg·kg −1 for Co, and 0.30 ± 0.12 mg·kg −1 for Cd. It was found that the Ni content in 51% and the Cr content in 18% of orchard soils were above the legal limits for agricultural soils (pH > 6) in Türkiye. Factor analysis (FA) showed that Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Pb loaded on the first factor (FC1), while Cd and Zn loaded mostly on the second factor (FC2). It was found that Cr, Ni, and Pb were primarily enriched through pedogenic processes, whereas Cd most likely originated from agricultural activities, while the impact of road traffic as source of PTE contamination was insignificant. It has been revealed that the soils are of low quality for agricultural production due to PTE contamination ( PIave ≥ 1). The SOPI values from environmental and ecological individual indices showed that the soil pollution level was moderate for Cd, Ni, and Pb, and low for Cr. The soil pollution index ( SOPI ) proved to be suitable for evaluating and comparing PTE pollution in regions with different soil properties.

Keywords: soil; PTE; pollution assessment; pistachio; olive; SOPI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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