Assessment of metal along a contamination gradient in soils collected from industrial areas in Northern Tunisia
Résumé
Many studies were interested in the assessment and the monitoring of soil contamination with heavy metals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of emissions from the Tunisian Steel Company El Fouladh in Bizerte (Tunisia). In this context, we measured Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) soil’s concentrations from 8 sites along a contamination gradient. Besides, physicochemical parameters, pH, organic carbon, CEC and CaCO3 were measured. Heavy metals were determined using an atomic absorption spectrome-try. The results revealed a high concentration of heavy metals in soils collected from several sites. The contamination factor (CF) was determined to estimate soil contamination of the sam-pling sites, and revealed that the level of contamination varied along a contamination gradient, which may be due to the mobility of pollution.