Trace Elements in Street and Household Dusts in Amman, Jordan

Abstract

This research aims at quantifying the concentrations of heavy metals within the home environment in Amman, the capital city of Jordan, and to compare the total concentrations of indoor dusts to that of exterior dusts and soils. Housedust samples were collected from different zones of Amman. Street dust samples and garden soil samples were collected in the immediate vicinity within 10–50 m of each residence. The geometric mean concentrations of metals in the household dust were Pb, 169 mg/kg; Cd, 2.92 mg/kg; Zn, 1985 mg/kg; Cu, 133 mg/kg; Cr, 66 mg/kg; Co, 21 mg/kg; Ni, 31 mg/kg; Mn, 284 mg/kg; Be, 3.0 mg/kg; Ba, 43 mg/kg; B, 697 mg/kg and Al, 1441 mg/kg. Comparisons of household dust, garden soil and street dust were based on the same particle size fraction. Results showed housedust samples to contain higher concentrations for Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cd, Cu and B, than either street dust or garden soil samples. However, the differences between Pb and Cr levels in the three different sample categories were insignificant. Enrichment factor calculations and the enrichment factor ratios indicated that patterns of enrichment of indoor dust differ from that of exterior dusts.

Keywords:

• Heavy metals
• housedust
• street dust
• soil
• ICP-OES
• enrichment factors

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Yarmouk University. The author would like to thank the participating families for allowing us to enter into their homes.

Notes

^a MDL: is the minimum detection limit, concentrations were above MDL for all elements in all samples except for Cd in 8 samples, for which half of the MDL value were assigned. In addition Al in SRM-2710 was below detection limit.

^b Found: is the average concentration for five replicates.

^c RSD: is the relative standard deviation for five replicates.

^a Chattopadhyay et al. (2003).

^b Rasmussen et al. (2001).

^c Kim et al. (1998).

^d Akhter and Madany (1993).

^e Kim and Fergusson (1993).

*Arithmetic means are reported.