PDF《New York Science Journal》

15 and 20% of soil material) and replicated three times. Soil and plant materials were determined in laboratory by routine analysis. Data were subjected to mean, coefficient of variation (CV), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis. Results showed that soils and plants proximal to the road contained elevated levels of Cd and Zn irrespective of the lithological differences of soils. Higher value of Cd were reported, and at 20% rate of ash application, Zn was reduced below tolerance limit indicated by existing standards. Further study may include use of other amendments in combination with ash. [New York Science Journal. 2008;

1(2):1-9]. (ISSN: 1554- 0200). Keywords: Amaranth, Parent materials, Pollution, Remediation, Traffic, Tropical Soils INTRODUCTION A single major source of pollution in urban areas is transportation (Mukherjee and Viswanathan, 2001) leading to adverse health effects (Chant et al,2002). The situation is worse for Nigeria where waste generation surpasses waste evacuation (Illuocha, 2003). In the study area are several petroleum C based urban non-oil based and open mining industries whose products and waste materials are circulated within the subregion (Segynola, 2002). Apparently, industrial, agricultural and residential activities have resulted in the direct discharge of both organic and inorganic substances through operational failures and sabotage into adjoining soil bodies (Chindah et al, 2004). Isirimah et al. (2003) reported that cadmium and zinc are prominent pollutants resulting from automobile traffic leading to toxic level in soils.

1 New York Science Journal, http://www.sciencepub.org, ISSN 1554-0200 Cadmium is a biotoxic heavy metal regarded as an important environmental pollution because of the potential adverse effect it poses to food quality, soil health and environment (Gray et al, 2004), Zinc is a micronutrient but becomes toxic under acidic Nigerian soils (Mustapha and Fagam, 2007). Zink is an essential plant element while cadmium has no known useful biological function in humans (O'

Neil, 1993). The cycles of Zn and Cd are related since natural zinc materials anthropogenic fluxes contain small amounts of Cd mobilized in soils is partly related to increased used of Zn and phosphate fertilizers (O'

Neil, 1993), and these activities imply elevated concentrations of both elements thereby posing human and livestock health hazards. Based on the foregoing, we investigated the concentrations of Zn and Cd in soils and attempted a remediation of polluted soils with oil palm ash. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Area The study was conducted in Imo State, Southeastern Nigeria (Latitudes

40 40'

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80 15'

N, Longitudes

60 40'

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80 15'

E) from 2007. Three expre........