Monitoring of Heavy Metals Content in Soil Collected from City Centre and Industrial Areas of Misurata, Libya

The present paper deals with the assessment of heavy metals in soil and roadside dust around Misurata City Centre and industrial areas/roads in the period of October 2011–May 2012. The levels of Pb, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cd, Cr, and Cu in settled dust samples collected near small streets, playgrounds, gas stations and main streets in the Misurata Area have been determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Also, the levels of same heavy metals in industrial areas have been determined. Metal concentration trend variation was also discussed in relation with traffic density and other sources of fugitive emission around different sites on each road/area. The overall mean concentration for main streets was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than for other small streets, where Misurata has been the centre of fierce fighting and is located in a frontline battle zone in the Libyan war; therefore most of metal concentrations in surface soil in the fighting area Tripoli Street and Benghazi Street were higher than those from the other sites (outside fighting area).