EVALUATION OF HEAVY METALS IN PLANTS FROM PREVIOUSLY REMEDIATED SITES IN NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA
GEORGE DANIEL SMILE *
Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
ADUABOBO IBITORU HART
Institute of Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria and Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
LEO CHIGBU OSUJI
Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The concentration of heavy metals such as Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr) and Iron (Fe) were evaluated in forty-eight plant samples from previously remediated oil spill sites located in Abia, Imo and Rivers states for two different seasons using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in order to assess their availability in the plants. The results obtained were subjected to Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple comparisons using IBM SPSS version 26.0. Results showed concentration of zinc, copper, chromium and copper were below the minimum limits of 6.0mg/kg by WHO, while cadmium and mercury levels were below detectable level of the AAS. However, lead concentrations in all the plant samples exceeded minimum acceptable limits of 0.1mg/kg as specified by WHO, as well as 0.2/0.3 for WHO/FOA joint standards.
Keywords: Heavy metals, contamination, bioaccumulation, pollutants, bioavailability, remediation