Soil samples from Lagos, Nigeria were analyzed to measure the concentration of potentially toxic elements: copper, lead and zinc. The soils were tested in triplicate and a random sub-sample was chosen using the cone and quarter method. A reference material, Glasgow Urban soil, was used as a control. The soils underwent microwave digestion using the Mars Xpress Microwave Digestion System in 20% Aqua Regia, and were then filtered using gravity filtration to dilute the concentration of Aqua Regia to 10%. The triplicates were analyzed on a Thermo Scientific flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) instrument and an Agilent Technologies 7700x Series inductively coupled plasma mass spectometry (ICP-MS) system. The concentrations from each instrument were in mg/L and were then converted to mg of element per kg of soil. The majority of samples tested fell below the limit of detection for concentrations of Cu and Pb on the FAAS. One sample location had values within the calibration range for Cu and Pb. All Zn concentrations were within the calibration range on the FAAS. Concentrations of Cu and Pb in the one sample location and the Zn concentrations showed similar values when compared to the data from ICP-MS. When comparing the concentrations of the samples to the reference material concentrations from the ICP-MS, the majority of Cu and Pb in samples were lower than the reference martial, while the majority of Zn concentrations were higher.

Potentially toxic elements in urban soils from Lagos, Nigeria

255th National Meeting (2018)

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