Soil contamination evaluation by Enrichment Factor (EF) and Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo)

Abstract

Heavy metals are natural constituents of soils and their concentration varies depending on parental materials. The soils were formedby. In the last years, the content of heavy metal in soils has increased due to human activities as: distribution of fertilizers, pesticides,industries, waste disposal and air pollution. Due to these activities the life capacity of soils decreased; especially where the naturalbackground is already high because of natural parental material richness in heavy metal. As a matter of fact it is very important todistinguish between the natural background values and anthropogenic inputs, and to understand that the background valueschange from area to area and with the scale of the area investigated. To evaluate the soil contamination rate different indexes likeEnrichment Factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) can be applied. These indexes are used to assess the presence andintensity of anthropogenic contaminant deposition on surface soil.