Document Type : Full research article

Authors

• hamidreza rahmani
• Mohsen Nekoeinia
• seyyed hossien banitaba

بخش تحقیقات خاک و آب، مرکز تحقیقات و آموزش کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی اصفهان، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، اصفهان، ایران

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities contribute to the accumulation and mobilization of heavy metals within the soil matrix, which functions as a terminal reservoir for these pollutants and thereby poses substantial ecological and human health risks. This study evaluated the impact of a fossil-fueled thermal power plant in Isfahan Province, Iran, on heavy metal accumulation in the surrounding topsoil. Fifty surface soil samples were collected, and the concentrations of eight toxic metals—Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn—were determined. Statistical analyses, including factor analysis and Pearson correlation, revealed three distinct metal groupings: Group I (Ni, Pb, Cd), Group II (Cu, Cr, Co), and Group III (Zn, Mn). Group I metals were associated with both natural and anthropogenic sources, while Groups II and III were primarily linked to geogenic origins. To quantify contamination levels, the contamination factor (CF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) were calculated. The results indicated moderate to high contamination levels for Pb and Cd, with Cd exhibiting very high CF values across all samples. Furthermore, multivariate calibration using principal component regression (PCR) and partial least squares regression (PLS) was employed to predict the pollution load index (PLI). Both methods demonstrated accurate and robust performance in predicting the PLI across calibration and prediction datasets, with R² values ranging from 0.861 to 0.965.

Keywords

• Multivariate statistical analysis
• contamination factor
• geoaccumulation index
• Soil contamination