Ecological Risk Assessment Of Heavy Metal Pollution In Urban Soils: A Case Study

In this study, geo-accumulation index (I-geo), enrichment factor (EF), potential ecological risk (Er), and risk index (RI) of five metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, and Cd) and Sc (as reference element for enrichment factor calculation) in soil samples were applied for assessing the pollution pattern and possible sources of heavy metals. Soil samples were collected from 27 different locations in Avcilar in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. The mean I-geo values of Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, and Cd were found between 0.12 and 0.96, which means that the soil contamination levels of these metals were uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. The EF mean values of Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg, and Cd were 1.70, 1.30, 1.30, 2.29, and 1.26, respectively. These EF results indicated that Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd in the study area soil were affected by natural sources, whereas Hg was mainly caused by nature and partly influenced by human activities. The order of the mean values of Er in the soil samples was in the following descending order of Hg > Cd > Cu > Pb > Zn. Most of the soil samples showed low and moderate ecological risks.