Sources of Cu, V, Cd, Cr, Mn, Zn, Co, Ni, Pb, Ca and Fe in Soil of Aradkooh Landfill

Currently all the waste produced are collected and transferred to the only landfill of Tehran, Aradkooh (Kahrizak), that is located in the south of Tehran. This landfill has been in use for over 45 years that has received over 35 million tons of waste during its life. In the present investigation 40 soil samples were collected from Aradkooh landfill to know about the origin of metals. The samples were acid digested and element concentrations were measured by AAS. Association of metals with different soil phases was brought out and it is shown that a great portion of metal contents possess lithogenous source. The following pattern of geochemical distribution was found in soil samples collected from Aradkooh landfill. Percentile of lithogenous Portion: Fe&V(95%)>Cu(91%)>Cd&Cr(90%)>Mn(89%)>Zn 87%)>Co(81%)>Ni(76%)>Pb(75%)>Ca(51%) Percentile of Anthropogenic portion:- Ca(49%)>Pb(25%)>Ni(24%)>Co(19%)>Zn(13% >Mn(11%)>Cd&Cr(10%)>Cu(9%)>Fe&V(5%). Based on geochemical studies (bulk and portioning studies) standard concentrations for metals is proposed. Cluster analysis revealed that the intra relationship amongst all studied metals is present (except for organic content, Ca, Fe and Mn). It seems that there is rather a good agreement amongst various pollution indices if unique terminology is used. All the three indices (IPOLL, Igeo and EF) used in the present investigation show no pollution for Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Ni and moderate pollution for Ca. These indices are not consistent in assessment of other elements such as V, Cd, Cr, Co and Pb that could be due to use of different media in formulae (shale values, crust values and background levels).