Heavy Metal Concentrations in Soil from a Contaminated Swat Shooting Range, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Current study aims to find the concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Zn and Pb) in the soil of shooting range Kanju (village located on bank if river Swat), Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. Kanju shooting range is located in Kanju town ship, where the army and police trainees’ practice and shoot targets with pistols and rifles and use open area as shooting range. Samples were collected from eleven different points to analyse soil texture, electric conductivity (EC), pH and concentration of heavy metals, Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn) and Lead (Pb). The results revealed that soil was silty loamy and samples were basic to neutral ranging from 7.78-8.23. The EC ranged from 766µS/cm to 976µS/cm. The concentrations of these heavy metals were reported different at different positions i.e., Cd was highest at target top soil, while Zn was highest in 100ft form shooter point towards target at 30 cm depth. Pb-concentration was more at mid-point right side 24ft top soil and Cr was higher at the point of 50ft from shooter towards target top soil 15cm. The presence of heavy metal in soil of shooting range affects the soil quality of not only that specific area but also the contaminants travel through different soil layers.