Heavy metal contamination and human health risk assessment in the soils grown field crops in Antalya, Türkiye

ABSTRACT

Soil pollution results from heavy metals has become a severe environmental concern. Heavy metals pose a risk to human health by entering the food chain. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations, sources and potential ecological and human health risks of heavy metals in soils which grown field crops in Antalya, Turkey. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0–30 cm from 292 fields and concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) were determined. The mean concentrations of total Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Co, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn were 4.73, 68.67, 152.74, 98.52, 24.77, 28098, 823, 42.72 and 62.85 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. These results showed that the average concentrations of Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Co, Cu and Mn exceeded the Upper continental crust average. Enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (I_geo) and contamination factor (CF) values of soils indicate serious enrichment for Cd. Principal component analyses (PCA) indicated that Co, Cr and Ni was lithogenic origins, but Fe and Pb concentrations were determined by lithological and anthropogenic sources. Hazard index (HI) values of heavy metals were < 1, suggesting that non-carcinogenic health risks to adult residents. In addition, the total carcinogenic risk (TCR) values except for Cr, suggesting that carcinogenic risks for residents were not expected. The results showed that children were more sensitive to the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects of heavy metals.

KEYWORDS:

• Ecological risks
• enrichment factor
• potential toxic elements
• pollution indices
• soil contamination

Acknowledgments

Support for this research was provided by the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policy (TAGEM/TSKAD/17/A09/P02/01). Also, we would like to thank Prof. Dr. İbrahim YOKAŞ and Hakan YILDIZ for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Işıl Demirtaş, Nuri Arı, Cevdet Fehmi Özkan, Memiş Ensar Ertürk, Murat Şimşek, Ömer Özbek, Filiz Öktüren Asri and Dilek Güven. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Filiz Öktüren Asri and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the TAGEM [TAGEM/TSKAD/17/A09/P02/01].