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Elemental analysis of soils along the South African National Road (N3) — a combined approach including statistics, pollution indicators, and geographic information system (GIS)

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Abstract

The South African National Road (N3) in the KwaZulu-Natal province is one of the major transportation routes from the Durban harbor. In this study, metal concentrations in Bidens pilosa L., which grows alongside the N3, and soil were determined using inductively coupled plasma — optical emission spectrometry to evaluate the impact of soil quality on the uptake. Furthermore, the distribution of Pb and Cd was mapped using the geographic information system (GIS) approach to identify the potential benefits of spatial data applications in soil studies. Plant concentrations of toxic metals, especially Pb, were high and were linked to high soil concentrations. The target hazard quotients indicated a low risk of adverse effects due to Cd exposure and increased risk due to As and Pb exposure. The carcinogenic risk was high for As and Cd exposure at all sites and Pb at 40% of the sites. Soil quality indicators (geoaccumulation indices and enrichment factors) showed soils to be moderate to heavily contaminated. Principal component analysis indicated different anthropogenic sources of contamination, including vehicular emissions and a combination of industrial, agricultural, and social impacts. Kriging interpolation depicted the spatial diffusion of Cd and Pb concentrations throughout the study area with different hot-spot areas of metal contamination for these two metals. The study demonstrated that the plants growing along national roads are not suitable for human consumption.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the University of KwaZulu-Natal for financial assistance.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the University of KwaZulu-Natal for financial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    Mohammed Zaheer Batwa-Ismail & Onisimo Mutanga

  2. School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    Roshila Moodley

Authors
  1. Mohammed Zaheer Batwa-Ismail
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  2. Roshila Moodley
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  3. Onisimo Mutanga
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Contributions

Conceptualization: RM and OM. Investigation and data curation: ZBI. Formal analysis and validation: ZBI. Project administration and supervision: RM and OM. Writing—original draft: ZBI. Writing—review and editing: RM and OM. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roshila Moodley.

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Batwa-Ismail, M.Z., Moodley, R. & Mutanga, O. Elemental analysis of soils along the South African National Road (N3) — a combined approach including statistics, pollution indicators, and geographic information system (GIS). Environ Monit Assess 193, 559 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09374-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09374-7

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