Heavy metal assessement of dumpsites soil in ilorin metropolis, kwara state

Evaluations of some heavy metals were carried out at four different dumpsite within Ilorin metropolis and its environments using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The mean heavy metal concentrations of the dumpsites were found to follow the trend: Mn>Fe>Zn>Cd>Pb with concentrations 4234.53±0.038, 1525.55±0.873, 966.8±0.2151, 387.30±0.561, 40.87±0.21 (μg/g) respectively. High concentration of iron and manganese may be attributed to dumping of structural components of condemned automobile parts and building materials into the dumpsites. The degree of heavy metal contamination of the dumpsites was determined using geoaccumulation index. Out of all the metals determined only Pb was practically uncontaminated in all the dumpsites while Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cd show a status of practically unpolluted to moderately polluted in all the dumpsites. The results for Coefficient of variation of the metals show that Pb had unsteady distribution pattern while Cd, Fe and Zn had moderately uneven distribution pattern and Mn was the most evenly distributed of heavy metals in the dumpsites.