EVALUATION OF HEAVY METALS CONTAMINATION OF SOIL AND VEGETATION IN THE VICINITY OF DANGOTECEMENTFACTORY IN OBAJANA KOGI STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

 In this work, soil and plant (Mango leaf) samples were collected in the Vicinity of Obajana Cement Factory in Kogi state Nigeria and analyzed for Fe, Zn and Pbusing Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The results of the metal analysis in soil (534.80µg/gFe, 10.10µg/gZn and 1.50µg/gPb)andplant(25.90µg/gFe, 3.60µg/gZn and 0.40µg/gPb) samples exceeded their threshold values. The threshold values for Fe , Zn and Pb in soil are 145.16, 0.60 and0.006µg/g respectively and in plant they are 0.003, 0.001 and 0.001 µg/g for Fe, Zn and Pb respectively. The results further revealed that the metal distribution were in a fluctuating manner considering various distances and directions from the cement factory. However, it was observed that the mean metal levels in the soil and plant decrease as distance from the cement factory increased for most metals. This indicated that the factory which is the only industrial source in the area is the major cause of the pollutants contamination in its vicinity. It is recommended that further studies should be carried out on how to protect environment and human health of people living around cement and similar factory.