Abstract
A good understanding of roadside soil contamination and the location of pollution sources is important for addressing many environmental problems. The results are reported here of an analysis of the content of metals in roadside dust samples of four major highways in the Greater Toronto area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada. The metals analyzed are Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Cr, Cu, Mn, and Fe. Multivariate geostatistical analysis [correlation analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA)] were used to estimate soil chemical content variability. The correlation coefficient shows a positive correlation between Cr–Cd, Mn–Fe, and Fe–Cu, while negatively between Zn–Cd, Mn–Cd, Zn-Cr, Pb–Zn, and Ni–Zn. PCA shows that the three eigenvalues are less than one, and suggests that the contamination sources are processing industries and traffic. HCA classifies heavy metals in two major groups. The cluster has two larger subgroups: the first contains only the variables Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr, Ni, and Pb, and the second includes Cd and Zn. The geostatistical analysis allows geological and anthropogenic causes of variations in the contents of roadside dust heavy metals to be separated and common pollution sources to be identified. The study shows that the high concentration of traffic flows, the parent material mineralogical and chemical composition, and land use are the main sources for the heavy metal concentration in the analyzed samples.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abu-Rukah YH (2002) A study of soils along the Amman Aqaba highway contamination with heavy metals. Freiberger Forschngsheft Journal, Technische Universitat Bergakademie Freiberg, C494 Geowissenschaften, pp 53–62
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (1996) Soil Landscapes of Canada. Version 2.2, National Soil Data Base. Ottawa, Ontario: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Agriculture Canada (1987) The Canadian System of Soil Classification. 2nd edn. Publication No. 1646. Ottawa, Ontario: Agriculture Canada, Research Branch
Alloway BJ (1990) Heavy Metals in Soils. Blackie and Sons, Glasgow
Anderson RH, Farrar DB, Thoms SR (2009) Application of discriminant analysis with cluster data to determine anthropogenic metals contamination. Sci Total Environ 408:50–56
Astel A, Tsakovski S, Simeonov V, Reisenhofer E, Piselli S, Barbieri P (2008) Multivariate classification and modeling in surface water pollution estimation. Anal Bioanal Chem 390(5):1283–1292
Audat SAE (2000) Assessment study of soil pollution along the main highway in central and north Jordan, MSc thesis, Yarmouk University, Jordan
Bostock HS (1970) Physiographic subdivisions of Canada. In: Douglas RJW (ed) Geology and Economic Minerals of Canada. Economic Geology Report No. 1. Ottawa, Ontario: Geological Survey of Canada, pp 10–30
Carlosena A, Andrade JM, Prada D (1998) Searching for heavy metals grouping roadside soils as a function of motorized traffic influence. Talanta 47:753–767
Chen D (2010) Geospatial analysis modelling of urban structure and dynamics. Springer e Book, Springer
De Miguel E, Llamas JF, Chacon E, Berg T, Larssen S, Royset O, Vadset M (1997) Origin and pattern of distribution of trace elements in street dust: unleaded petrol and urban Lead. Atmos Environ 31:2733–2740
Ellis JB, Revitt DM (1982) Incidence of heavy metals in street surface sediments: solubility and grain size studies. Water Air Soil Pollut 17:87–100
Fergusson JE (1990) The heavy elements: Chemistry, Environment impact and health effects, vol 9, Pergamon Press, Oxford
Forest Landscape Ecology Program, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (1996) Surficial Geology of Ontario: Digital Database and Viewing Software [CD-ROM]. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: Ontario Forest Research Institute, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Gee GW, Bauder JW (1986) Particle-size analysis. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis, Part 1. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, pp 383–412
Gratani L, Taglioni S, Crescente MF (1992) The accumulation of lead in agriculture soil and vegetation along a highway. Chemosphere 24(7):941–949
Güler C, Thyne GD, McCray JE, Turner AK (2002) Evaluation of graphical and multivariate statistical methods for classification of water chemistry data. Hydrogeol J 10(4):455–474
Harrison RM, Laxen DPH, Wilson SJ (1981) Chemical association of lead and zinc in street dust and road side soils. Environ Sci Technol 15:1378–1381
Howari FM, Abu-Rukah Y, Goodell OC (2004) Heavy metal pollution of soils along North Shauna-Aqaba Highway, Jordan. Int J Environ Pollut 22(5):597–607
Jiries AG, Hussein HH, Halash Z (2001) The quality of water and sediments of street runoff in Amman, Jordan. Hydrol Process 15:815–824
Lagerweff JV, Specht AW (1970) Contamination of roadside soils and vegetation with cadmium, nickel, lead and zinc. Environ Sci Technol 4:583–586
Li X, Liu PS (2001) Heavy metal contamination of urban soils and street dusts in Hong Kong. Appl Geochem 16:1361–1368
Loranger S, Zayed J (1994) Manganese and lead concentration in ambient air and emission rates from unleaded and leaded gasolina between 1981 and 1992 in Canada: a comparative study. Atmos Environ 28:1645–1651
Lux W (1986) Shhwarmetallgehalte und isoplethen in Boden, Subhydrishan Ablagerung Und Pflanzen im sudosten Hamburges. Hamburger Badenkudliche Arbeiten 5:249
Manta DS, Angelone M, Bellaneca A, Neri R, Sproviri M (2002) Heavy metals in Urban soils: a case study from the city of Polermo (Sicily) Italy. Sci Total Environ 30:229–243
Nazzal Y, Rosen MA, Al-Rawabdeh AM (2012) Assessment of metals pollution in urban road dusts from selected highways of the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Environ Monit Assess J Springer. doi:10.1007/s10661-012-2672-3
Population of Census Metropolitan Areas (2006) Census Boundaries Statistics Canada. http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-02
Thornton I (1991) Metal contamination of soils in urban area In: Bullock P, Gregony PJ (eds) Soils in urban environment. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 47–75
Thurston PC (1991) Geology of Ontario: Introduction. In: Thurston PC, Williams HR, Sutcliffe RH, Scott GM (eds). Geology of Ontario, special volume No. 4, Toronto, Ontario Geological Survey, pp 3–26
Webster R, Atteia O, Dubois JP (1994) Coregionalization of trace metals in the soil in the Swiss Jura. Eur J Soil Sci 45:205–218
Wedepohl KH (1978) The composition of the continental crust. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 59:1217–1232
Wilcke W, Kretzschmar S, Bandt M, Saborio Gand Zech W (1998) Aluminum and heavy metal partitioning in a horizon of soils in Cost Rican coffee plantations. Soil Sci 163:463–471
Acknowledgments
The project was supported by the Central Research Centre, College of Science, King Saud University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nazzal, Y., Ghrefat, H. & Rosen, M.A. Application of multivariate geostatistics in the investigation of heavy metal contamination of roadside dusts from selected highways of the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. Environ Earth Sci 71, 1409–1419 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2546-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2546-1