Assessment of Soil Metals Status in parts of Rivers State, Nigeria

The study evaluates levels of metals in soils of 9 locations in Port Harcourt and its environs in Rivers State in Nigeria. Composite samples were collected by random sampling from each of the 9 test locations, 3 control samples were also collected from each of the study areas. Concentration levels of (Lead) Pb, (Copper) Cu, (Cadmium) Cd, (Zinc) Zn, (Calcium) Ca, (Nickel) Ni, (Sodium) Na, (Potassium) K, (Chromium) Cr, (Magnesium) Mg, (Manganese) Mn, and (Sulphur) S in soil were measured using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The obtained mean levels of Pb, Cu, Cd, Zn, Ca, Ni, Na, K, Cr, Mn and Mg were 1.45±0.16, 0.22±0.04, 0.04±0.01, 2.61±0.51, 12.99±4.81, 0.75±0.08, 173.64±35.31, 6.06±1.58, 0.27±0.03, 4.21±0.61 and 11.87±2.10 ppm respectively. There were significant differences in levels of Pb among the test and control samples (p=.048). There was significant difference in levels of Cu among the test and control samples (p=0.001). There was significant difference in levels of Zn among the test and control samples (p=0.016). The study establishes that urbanization, industrialization and agricultural activities do affect the level of metals in the soils of the study areas. The pollution of soils with metals in the studied sites is within permissible limits, however, levels of Zn, Cd and Ni should be on close monitoring to in the industrial areas and urbanized areas. The study establishes that oil and gas activities variedly affect the levels of metal pollution in urbanized, industrialized and agricultural areas.