Author(s)

Almesleh A. A. Najwah^1*, Goodell Philip²

¹Program of Environmental Science & Engineering, University of Texas, El Paso, USA.
²Department of Geological Science, University of Texas, El Paso, USA.

The chemical and physical properties of soil are critical factors that affect human health. The current geochemical study is designed to evaluate the concentrations of heavy metals (Cr, Pb, and Zn) in the soil in Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), and Nebraska (NE). The basic descriptive statistical results suggest that there are some limited levels of the heavy metals in the soils that come from anthropogenic inputs. The results of three environmental metrics, the enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation (Igeo), and potential ecological risk (PERI), have been calculated, evaluated, and compared. EF values show that soils contain minimal enrichment of Cr, Pb, and Zn in the study area. In addition, PERI values presented low risk with Cr, Pb, and Zn. However, Igeo values showed no contamination of Cr, Pb, and Zn in the study area. These results suggest that the elevated levels of these heavy metals are dominated by the historic agricultural inputs derived from long-term anthropogenic applications, especially in the regions with extensive human activities, which means that soil is the sink for heavy metals released into the environment.

Chemical Elements, Enrichment Factor, Geo Accumulation, Potential Ecological Risk, Geochemical Maps

Najwah, A. and Philip, G. (2021) The Comparison of Three Environmental Metrics for Cr, Pb, and Zn in the Agricultural Region of the Mid-Continent of USA. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 9, 147-165. doi: 10.4236/gep.2021.94009.