Assessment of selected heavy metal presence in some dumpsites in Nigeria: a review.

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the presence and vertical migrations of Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) in some dumpsite with the view to elucidate the risk of contamination to the environment, also to underscore the factorial effects of pH and organic matter on the migration of heavy metals in the dumpsite in relation to soils of selected metropolitan towns. The metal migrations were randomly checked at different depth profile. These heavy metals were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) other parameters determined includes pH and organic matter (OM) content. Results show contamination of the dumpsites and indicated downward migration of the heavy metals investigated. The relationship between metal concentration against pH and % OM respectively show antithetical relationships. The result of this study shows that there exists risk for the environment due to notable migration of heavy metals across depth profile and that the migrations were also observed to be highly correlated with organic matter content.