Assessment of soil properties from catchment areas of Ravi and Beas rivers: a review

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of soil parameters from catchment areas of Beas and Ravi rivers.

	Catchment areas of river Beas			Catchment areas of river Ravi
	Min	Max	Mean ± SE	Min	Max	Mean ± SE
Sand %	33.58	79.3	59.4 ± 2.01	55	77.2	65.46 ± 1.39
Silt %	15.2	42.05	28.68 ± 1.44	16.3	28.75	23.67 ± 0.88
Clay %	4.9	24.26	11.1 ± 0.76	5.4	16.4	10.87 ± 0.74
pH	6.38	8.36	7.52 ± 0.09	7.2	7.85	7.45 ± 0.04
Conductivity (µmhos/cm)	122.5	374.4	114.2 ± 22.57	107.5	366	234.6 ± 16.6
C %	0.13	0.69	0.29 ± 0.03	0.14	0.52	0.32 ± 0.02
P (mg/g)	0.013	0.2	0.05 ± 0.01	0.006	0.07	0.01 ± 0.003
N (mg/g)	0.001	1.07	0.13 ± 0.04	0.11	0.447	0.16 ± 0.02

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of heavy metals of soil from catchment areas of river Beas and their permissible limits.

Heavy metals (mg/g)	Min	Max	Mean ± SE	Indian (Awashthi, 2000)	European Union(2002)	Ewers (1991)
Na	1.54	5.86	3.34 ± 0.48	-	-	-
K	1.13	3.3	2.14 ± 0.22	-	-	-
Ca	0.2	0.38	0.29 ± 0.018	-	-	-
Mg	0.024	0.062	0.04 ± 0.004	-	-	-
Zn	0.02	0.04	0.03 ± 0.002	-	-	-
Mn	0.27	1.65	0.83 ± 0.142	-	-	-
Ni	0.023	0.80	0.21 ± 0.084	-	-	-
Cr	0.01	0.03	0.02 ± 0.003	-	150	100
Cu	0.01	0.03	0.02 ± 0.002	135–270	140	100
Co	0.007	0.01	0.01 ± 0.0004	-	-	50
Cd	0.0002	0.0007	0.0005 ± 0.0001	3–6	3	3

Table 3a. Pearson’s correlation of physiochemical properties from the catchment areas of river Beas.

	Sand	Silt	Clay	pH	Conductivity	C	P
Sand	1
Silt	−0.968***	1
Clay	−0.270	0.269	1
pH	−0.118	0.133	0.230	1
Conductivity	0.145	−0.038	0.322	0.387*	1
C	−0.033	−0.036	−0.287	−0.176	−0.312	1
P	−0.128	0.206	0.443*	0.016	0.376*	−0.418*	1
N	−0.312	0.233	0.063	−0.112	−0.303	−0.057	−0.153

Significant at *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.

Table 3b. Pearson’s correlation among heavy metals from the catchment areas of river Beas.

	Na	K	Ca	Mg	Fe	Zn	Mn	Ni	Cr	Cu	Co
Na	1
K	0.324	1
Ca	−0.502	0.065	1
Mg	−0.168	0.191	0.051	1
Fe	0.023	0.243	0.027	−0.451	1
Zn	−0.227	−0.040	−0.126	0.158	0.556	1
Mn	−0.359	0.470	0.684*	0.013	0.587	0.175	1
Ni	−0.461	−0.243	0.023	0.786*	−0.348	0.253	−0.024	1
Cr	−0.048	0.015	−0.161	−0.201	0.888**	0.733*	0.394	0.043	1
Cu	0.062	0.642*	−0.077	0.001	0.795*	0.586	0.612*	−0.158	0.691*	1
Co	−0.117	0.115	0.202	−0.414	0.820**	0.437	0.584	−0.461	0.610	0.673*	1
Cd	−0.063	0.085	−0.090	0.574	−0.253	0.054	0.012	0.255	−0.212	0.157	0.161

Significant at *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01.

Table 3c. Pearson’s correlation of physiochemical properties from the catchment areas of river Ravi.

	Sand	Silt	Clay	pH	Conductivity	C	N
Sand	1
Silt	−0.883***	1
Clay	−0.827***	0.467*	1
pH	−0.142	0.213	0.013	1
Conductivity	0.014	−0.069	0.057	−0.847***	1
C	−0.121	−0.051	0.289	−0.009	−0.082	1
N	−0.314	0.230	0.316	−0.048	0.180	0.080	1
P	0.019	0.096	−0.150	−0.081	0.073	−0.398	−0.049

Significant at *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.

Figure 1. Cluster analysis of physiochemical properties of soil from catchment areas of river Ravi.

Figure 2. Cluster analysis of physiochemical properties of soil from catchment areas of river Beas.

Table 4a. Principal component analysis of metals from catchment areas of river Beas.

Variables	PC1	PC2	PC3	PC4
Na	−.128	−.271	−.695	.498
K	.091	.110	.070	.909
Ca	−.139	−.057	.942	.034
Mg	−.140	.963	.039	.081
Fe	.885	−.374	.132	.208
Zn	.845	.283	−.064	−.199
Mn	.427	.003	.782	.399
Ni	.005	.829	.099	−.439
Cr	.953	−.092	−.039	−.087
Cu	.801	.089	.057	.566
Co	.718	−.316	.300	.251
Cd	−.032	.654	−.032	.287
% var	31.74	20.56	17.62	16.58

Table 4b. Principal component analysis and loadings of soil parameters from catchment areas of river Beas.

Variables	PC1	PC2	PC3
Sand	−.975	−.050	.048
Silt	.947	.127	.014
Clay	.336	.627	.198
pH	.230	.009	.812
Conductivity	−.129	.489	.671
C	.063	−.765	−.010
P	.100	.826	.053
N	.399	−.001	−.564
% var	27.53	23.98	18.39

Table 4c. Principal component analysis and loadings of soil parameters from catchment areas of river Ravi.

Variables	PC1	PC2	PC3
Sand	−.981	.097	−.006
Silt	.851	−.198	−.230
Clay	.828	.053	.285
pH	.082	−.948	.011
Conductivity	.068	.952	−.082
C	.117	−.002	.827
P	.014	.069	−.813
N	.484	.237	.112
% var	32.91	23.94	18.73

Figure 3. Contamination factor and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals from catchment areas of river Beas.

Awashthi, S. K. (Ed.). (2000). Prevention of food adulteration Act No. 37 of 1954. Central and state rules as amended for 1999. New Delhi: Ashoka Law House.

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European Union (2002) heavy metals in wastes, European commission on environmet. Retreived from <http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/pdf/heavymetalsreport.pdf. .

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Ewers, U. (1991). Standards, guidelines and legislative regulations concerning metals and their compounds. In E. Merian (Ed.), Metals and their compounds in environment: Occurrence, analysis and biological relevance (pp. 458–468). Weinheim: VCH.

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