A brief study was done to observe potentially toxic metal concentrations found in surface soil (0-10 cm) of two contrasting locations of Scotland. The locations were categorized as either urban or rural based on their interaction with human activity. The rural samples were used as a baseline for naturally occurring metal concentrations, with little to no human impact. The potentially toxic metals observed were arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, uranium, and zinc. Analysis of metals for each location was done using microwave digestion with aqua regia and observed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results showed that most metal concentions were significantly different between the rural and urban locations except iron, manganese, and uranium. This result is expected as the urban sample locations had a long history of industrial use. The concern for the metals to be potentially toxic at certain levels was also studied, however none of the metal concentrations were high enough to be considered toxic.

Human effect on potentially toxic metal concentrations in the soils of Scotland

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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