Contamination and Potential Ecological Risk Factors of Potentially Toxic Elements Present in the Soil of Shooting Range: Comparison with the Global Soils

Environment and Pollution Pub Date : 2020-03-31 DOI:10.5539/ep.v9n1p37

Saba Shoukat, S. Nazneen, S. Khan, U. Zafar

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Abstract

This study was carried out to determine potentially toxic element (PTE) contamination and their potential ecological risk factors in shooting range soil. For this purpose soil samples were collected from different locations (left side, right side, shooting point, middle, and stop-butt) from the shooting range of Frontier Corps Training Centre (FCTC) present in Warsak, Peshawar. The soil samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and potentially toxic elements including Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn. The strong acids digested extracts were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry to determine the concentrations of selected PTEs. The concentration of Pb was found to be maximum at stop-butt i.e. 2049 mg/kg and exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) critical value of 400 mg/kg, while its concentrations at left, right, shooting point and middle were 14.0 mg/kg, 18.8 mg/kg, 47.4 mg/kg, and 18.2 mg/kg, respectively and exceeded the background level of normal soils which is 10 mg/kg for Pb. This study revealed that the shooting range soil was highly contaminated with Pb, and very high contamination factor and potential ecological risk for Pb was observed at stop-butt, very high contamination factor and potential ecological risk for Cd, while moderate contamination factor for Zn was observed at all locations of the shooting range. In Pakistan, the environmental perspective of shooting range soils is overlooked and there is a need to take steps to avoid such contamination of soils with Pb and other PTEs that can enter into food chains and can also leach to contaminate the aquifer. Replacement of vegetation of shooting range with PTE tolerant species, addition of soil conditioners and uncontaminated soil would reduce the mobility of these contaminants into aerial portions of plants and protect the groundwater contamination.

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射击场土壤中潜在有毒元素的污染及潜在生态风险因素:与全球土壤的比较

本研究旨在确定靶场土壤中潜在有毒元素(PTE)污染及其潜在生态危险因素。为此目的，从白沙瓦瓦尔萨克边境部队训练中心(FCTC)射击场的不同位置(左侧、右侧、射击点、中间和停靶)收集土壤样本。分析了土壤样品的pH值、电导率(EC)和潜在有毒元素Cd、Cr、Ni、Pb和Zn。采用原子吸收分光光度法对强酸消化的提取物进行分析，以确定所选pte的浓度。停靶处铅浓度最高，为2049 mg/kg，超过美国环境保护署(US-EPA)的临界值400 mg/kg，而左、右、射击点和中间的铅浓度分别为14.0 mg/kg、18.8 mg/kg、47.4 mg/kg和18.2 mg/kg，超过了正常土壤的背景水平(10 mg/kg)。研究结果表明，射击场土壤Pb污染程度较高，停靶处Pb污染系数和潜在生态风险较高，Cd污染系数和潜在生态风险较高，射击场土壤Zn污染系数中等。在巴基斯坦，人们忽视了射击场土壤的环境前景，有必要采取措施，避免铅和其他pte污染土壤，因为它们可能进入食物链，也可能浸出污染含水层。用耐PTE植物替代靶场植被，添加土壤调节剂和未受污染的土壤，可以减少这些污染物向植物空中部分的迁移，保护地下水污染。

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Environment and Pollution

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