Road Deposited Sediments and dust particles of selected roads of Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Hyderabad is seventh largest city of Pakistan and second largest city of Sindh located on the left bank of Indus River with rapid growth of infrastructure and automobiles. Recently the city holds a large number of automobiles in the total area of 3198 square kilometers. Road deposited and suspended air sediments were collected and analyzed to check the degree of pollution, if any. This study indicates that the heavy metals exhaust from automobiles are not only contaminating air but have also adverse effect on surface and subsurface water systems. Present data indicates that the studied locations are contaminated in the form of heavy metals such as the Cu, Co, Ni and Zn but their concentrations are not above the tolerance limit except of zinc to some extent. Along with above heavy metals; the major elements and their sources are also determined. The major elements determined are: Si, Ca, Al, Fe, Mg, O, and K. Among these silicon and calcium are in huge concentrations and these huge concentrations are because of the winds blowing from west and carrying fine sediments from the river bed of Indus and limestone deposits of Laki Limestone. This study indicates that the studied locations are not hazardous due to heavy metals though contamination is there in both air as well as road-deposited sediments