ABSTRACTThe presence of major and trace elements in soils and sediments can potentially pose a toxic threat to ecosystems and possibly impact the human health through the food chain. The soils present in the study area in Erbil City both natural and imported, will be subjected to anthropogenic input and the influence of waste generated in these locations, thereby resulting in potential environmental and health concerns. This heavily populated urban city exhibits a high level of activities with regard to the presence of manufacturing plants, medical institutions, automobiles, industrial infrastructures, industrial emissions, vehicle cleaning establishments, and accumulation of waste containers. The study aims to elucidate the specific areas where the input of heavy metal pollutants from human activities is expected to significantly contribute in a localized pollution.A comprehensive analysis is conducted to a total of 103 soil samples collected from various locations within the busiest urban areas of Erbil from various land usage.These samples were sieved with 30 mesh and analyzed by ICPMS and XRF for the spread of 26 trace elements including some major elements such as Al, Ca, Mg and Fe. The research sought to determine the scale of human pollution and anthropogenic input in the area, where a variety of industrial and economic operations, transit, and natural temperature variables may all add to pollution. Statistical analyze like mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, and multidimensional statistical approaches were utilized to analyze the data.
To determine major and trace element amounts at unmeasured sites, the inverse distance weighted (IDW) extrapolation and elemental distribution techniques were used. The levels of Ag, As, Be, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Se in the studied soil samples were found to be greater than the permissible limit of earth’s crust and world average soil. For evaluating the scope of human pollution, the Contamination Factor (CF), Contamination Degree (Cdeg), Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), and Ecological Risk Factor & Risk Index (RI) were computed. The study of CF shows that elements such as Ag, As, Be, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Se records some contamination from moderately contamination to very high contamination. The findings revealed that the EF values for trace elements in topsoil samples were mostly greater than 2, indicating moderate to exceptionally high enrichment, with Ag > Be > Cd > As > Se > Ni having the greatest enrichment factor values in the study. According to the Igeo categorization, some trace elements, like Ag, Cd, Se, and Pb, were mildly to highly polluted. The influence of different land uses and anthropogenic input on studied elements were investigated through the Kruskal–Wallis H test and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This research emphasizes the importance of efficient industrial area manufacturing, car washes and landfill management for reducing the negative impacts on the ecosystem, agriculture and human health in the Erbil area.
