HEAVY METALS ABUNDANCE IN THE SOILS OF THE PANTELIMON – BR NE TI AREA, ILFOV COUNTY: IRON, MANGANESE, NICKEL, LEAD, ZINC

More than 20 years later, a new research on heavy metals (iron, manganese, nickel, lead, zinc) contents in the soil cover of the Pantelimon – Br ne ti area located East of the Bucharest Municipality and exposed for several decades to the influence of industrial emissions from two non-ferrous metallurgy plants is presented. A 5,912.72 ha area was investigated, 544 samples taken by geometric horizons (0-20; 20-40; 40-60 cm) from 215 points have been analyzed. The dominant soils are: Preluvosols, Chernozems, and Phaeozems. The total manganese, nickel, and zinc contents of the analyzed soils are lower than their average contents in the lithosphere, while the lead content is 2.3 times higher. As compared to the average contents of the World’s soils the contents of the four heavy metals in the Pantelimon – Br ne ti area are much higher: 1.32 (zinc); 1.45 (manganese); 2.00 (nickel), and 2.43 (lead) times. The polluting chemical element of the area is lead. The iron and manganese contents frequency histograms are symmetric, while those of the nickel, lead, and zinc are asymmetric with right asymmetry. The tendency maps of the heavy metals distribution in the analyzed soils shows the insular character of the high contents generated by the polluting emissions nature, by the dominant winds direction, by the micro relief, and by the vegetation structure.