Investigation of soil contaminated by lead cadmium mercury and nickel

In this study, soil samples were taken from the site of a factory, located in Kocaeli, producing sodium hydroxide, liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid and calcium hypochlorite. Coordinates of three sampling points were determined and samples were taken from two different depths, i.e., 5 and 30 cm. Extraction techniques were employed to the samples. The concentrations of heavy metals including lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and mercury (Hg) were determined. The concentrations of lead, in first, second and third samples taken from 30 cm depth were 22, 45 and 41 mg/kg, respectively. The concentrations of nickel at the same samples were above 22, 31 and 23 mg/kg. The concentrations of cadmium were below 0.0037 mg/kg in all samples, and the concentrations of mercury were determined as 76, 52 and 16 mg/kg. It is concluded that while concentrations of Pb and Cd are below the standards, the concentrations of Ni and Hg are higher then standards.