Determination of Elemental Composition of Soil Samples from Selected Dumpsites in Nasarawa, Kogi and Niger States, Nigeria

Abstract

The growing dominance of urban environment with heavy metals through natural and anthro-pogenic depositions and the potentially adverse health implications following environmental contaminations have focused attention on the disposal of municipal and industrial wastes. This study employed analytical procedures to investigate the concentrations of chromium, iron, cop-per, zinc, manganese and aluminium at the municipal waste dump site of the study areas. Soil samples were randomly collected from different waste dumpsite across Nasarawa, Kogi, and Niger states and an undisturbed soil 100m away from the dumpsites was chosen as the control. From the result obtained, it was observed that the metals in all dumpsite types followed the or-der: Mn>Fe>Zn>Cu>Cr>Al. Mn had the highest mean concentration which was recorded in Bi-da, Borgu and Minna in Niger State while Al was the least detected in all the dumpsites with the lowest mean concentrations (5.7±0.96) recorded in Borgu. Mean concentration of all the metals at the dumpsites was higher than at the control which means there is an anthropogenic contri-bution from the environment. The concentrations of the heavy metals were generally lower than their respective guideline values for the protection of human and environmental health. Howev-er, with prolong practice of dumping refuse at these sites; concentrations of the heavy metals may increase above the recommended limits. Therefore, we recommend that further research be carried out on the heavy metals concentration of the waste materials to identify those that are potential sources of soil contamination to suggest appropriate treatment and disposal methods.