Abstract
In this study, we determined the concentrations of heavy metals in the agricultural soils of Kafr El-Zayat city using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The LA-ICP-MS performance was firstly evaluated by analyzing appropriate reference materials and comparing the concentration values found to those of the reference values. LA-ICP-MS was then applied to examine the content of 21 elements (Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Rb, Sr, Mo, Sn, Ba, Pb, Th, and U) in 16 collected agricultural soil samples from Egypt. The soil quality was assessed by calculating the contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF), and the geo-accumulation index (Igeo) of the measured heavy metals. The average concentrations of V, Cr, Co, Ni, and Cu were higher than the average worldwide background concentrations and exceeded the Canadian soil quality guidelines with values of 162.8, 113.3, 42.2, 88.1, and 70.6 μg/g, respectively. Multivariate analysis was applied to investigate the correlation and sources of heavy metals in agricultural soils. Cluster analysis indicated the clustering of heavy metals into three groups: Cr and Mo; Fe and Mn; and V, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, and Pb. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) agreed with those of the cluster analysis and yielded three components that explained 81.13% of the total variance. The contamination factor (CF) of soils from all sampling sites showed moderate contamination.
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The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank JC Barrette and Sharon Lackie, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Canada, for helping with LA-ICP-MS and EDS analysis. We thank Drs. Osama Hemeda, Ahmed Farouk, Ahmed Heneish, and Hany El-Ghrabawy, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, Tanta University, Egypt, for helping with sample preparation.
Funding
This work was partially funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Cultural Affairs and Missions Sector, and Tanta University, Egypt. Chemical analysis was supported by NSERC Discovery Grant to Brian J Fryer and Joel Gagnon and CFI to Joel E Gagnon, University of Windsor, Canada.
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MES performed the experimental work, interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript. WT reviewed the manuscript. AFM collected the soil samples and participated in data interpretation. JEG and BJF supported the experimental analysis using LA-ICP-MS and SEM instruments in their labs. FEM reviewed the manuscript.
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Shaheen, M.E., Tawfik, W., Mankoula, A.F. et al. Determination of heavy metal content and pollution indices in the agricultural soils using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 36039–36052 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13215-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13215-y