Heavy metals contamination in roadside soil near different traffic signals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract The present research was conducted to study heavy metal contamination in roadside soil viz. (i) at sites having more than two traffic signals (ii) roads having only one traffic signal and (iii) roads having no traffic signals. The samples were collected and analyzed for seven heavy metals i.e. cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) following the acid digestion of the respective soil samples. The range of the metals observed in soil having more than two traffic signals were Cd (0.17–1.01), Pb (259.66–2784.45), Cu (15.51–65.90), Ni (13.31–98.13), Fe (325.64–5136.37), Mn (57.95–166.43), and Zn (91.34–166.43) mg kg −1 respectively. Similarly, the range of metals analyzed in samples collected from the roadside having only one traffic signal were Cd (nd–0.80), Pb (145.95–308.09), Cu (0.82–18.04), Ni (18.29–59.36), Fe (88.51–3649.42), Mn (25.88–147.34) and Zn (8.97–106.11 mg kg −1 ) respectively. However, the range of metals at roads having no traffic signals were Cd (0.0–0.57), Pb (8.34–58.20), Cu (2.88–5.81), Ni (3.34–73.80), Fe (55.34–332.81), Mn (2.98–98.73) and Zn (1.23–46.6 mg kg −1 ) respectively. Cd, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn and Zn in soil were present within the normal range of background levels, whereas lead was reported in high concentration. The level of lead had a correlation with the traffic density attributing its origin to vehicular exhaust. The values from three different sites of monitoring suggest that automobiles are a major source of the studied metals for the roadside environment.