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Vehicle-Derived Metal Pollution in Roundabouts and Roadside Gutters Identified by Magnetic and Elemental Analysis

Kanu Maxwell O, Meludu OC and Oniku SA

In order to study the contribution of vehicular emissions to urban environmental pollution, measurements of magnetic susceptibility and elemental analysis was conducted on soil samples collected from roundabouts and roadside gutters in Jalingo Metropolis, Taraba State. Magnetic susceptibility was performed on a total of 61 samples using Bartington MS2B Susceptibility meter while elemental analysis was done on selected samples using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (BUCK 210 Model). Results obtained show magnetic susceptibility enhancement which ranged from 106.3 to 475.1 × 10-8 m3kg-1 and 42.8 to 289 × 10-8 m3kg-1 in the roundabouts and gutters samples respectively which implies increase in ferrimagnetic minerals in the samples. The frequency dependence of magnetic susceptibility indicates the dominance of non-super paramagnetic fraction resulting from anthropogenic sources. The concentrations of Fe, Pb, Cu, Zn and Mn on selected samples show comparable values in both gutter and roundabout samples. Their mean values in mg/kg for gutter and roundabout samples respectively are 21. 80 and 21.94 for Fe; 0.01 and 0.02 for Pb; 1.74 and 0.98 for Cu; 1.75 and 1.86 for Zn and 4.22 and 4.71 for Mn. Correlation analysis between magnetic susceptibility and heavy metals shows that magnetic susceptibility can be used as a proxy for assessing Pb, Cu and Zn pollution in the gutter samples but no correlation was obtained between both parameter in the roundabout samples. Organic matter content did not show any effect on magnetic susceptibility in all samples but might affect the concentration of some heavy metals.