زهرا شیخی آلمان آباد

Background and Due to the importance of soil quality in life and environment, various evaluation methods have been proposed to describe the effect of pollutants such as heavy metals on soil quality. In this study, we evaluated the quality of the soil around Zanjan lead and zinc complex located in Zanjan city by using the mathematical model of the improved weighted index and compared it with the results of Nemerow indices and pollution load index. In this study, the results of 71 soil sampling stations around Zanjan lead and zinc complex, located in the northwest of Iran, by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry device for reading the concentration of heavy metals Lead, Zinc, Arsenic, Cadmium, Thallium, Barium, Antimony, Vanadium, Cobalt, Molybdenum, Nickel and Copper were used. Soil acidity was also analyzed. In this approach, during the calculation of the improved weighted index, weights were assigned to different heavy metals using statistical tools, including hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis. The result of the index quantitatively determines the amount of pollution. Based on the improved weight index, 19.9% of the samples were in moderate pollution and 4.2% of the samples were in severe pollution, and the other samples were without pollution or with little pollution. According to the pollution load index, 5.8% of the samples are in moderate pollution and 2.8% are in severe pollution, and according to the pollution index, 19.9% of the samples are in moderate pollution and 42.2% are in severe pollution. Comparing the correlation of the results obtained from the model with the weighted improved index with the pollution load index, the correlation value is 0.907, and with the Nimro index, the correlation value is 0.701, which indicates that it is closer to the pollution load index. The results of the improved weight index showed that the heavy metals Zinc, Lead, Cadmium and Arsenic are of anthropogenic origin and as a result of the industrial activities of Zanjan lead and zinc complex. While heavy metals Barium, Vanadium, Thallium, Molybdenum, Cobalt, Copper, Nickel and Antimony are of earth origin. The results showed that the improved weighted index has a good match with the previous indices and can be used in wide ranges. It also overcomes the shortcomings of the previous indicators and can be used as a new model to evaluate soil pollution and soil ecological risk. This index can be used to identify and determine possible sources of pollution.

Kahriz Plain is located in the West Azarbaijan province along Urmia Lake and is part of the Urmia Lake catchment. Given the proximity of this plain to Urmia Lake and changes in groundwater level in this region, this study aimed to investigate the quality of groundwater from the results of 12 sampling stations during three dry periods (September) of 88-89, 91-92 and 95-94 was used for comparison. The results showed that the water type was Calcic-Magnesium-Chlorate in the first period and changed to Calcic-Carbonate-Chlorate type indicating the interaction of water-rock in the region. Groundwater quality for drinking and agriculture showed that due to high salinity and sodium content in all three periods, the northern part and areas leading to Urmia Lake were not of good quality and had limited use. The direction of groundwater flow in the region is from west to Urmia Lake, and thus the amount of electrical conductivity along with the total soluble solids increases from west to lake. The highest correlation was observed between electrical conductivity parameters and total soluble solids (p <0.05 and r = 0.9) and ions were highly correlated and had a common origin. Investigation of indices of sodium percent, sodium uptake ratio, permeability, magnesium risk and Kelly ratio indicate low to moderate limitations in groundwater use in irrigation systems. Groundwater quality based on geochemical ratios is one of the factors controlling the effect of evaporative minerals dissolution, extensive evaporation, and probability of saline water infiltration. In terms of electrical conductivity, 25% of the samples are in poor condition and show high to medium restriction for northern areas including Goltapeh and Jamalabad, Ghushchi and Qolghani areas. Therefore, different methods such as leaching and modification of the cropping pattern are needed.

Soil is a bed to the accumulation of nutrients and pollutants and plays an important role in environmental sustainability. Among all types of soil pollutants, heavy metals are considered as a major threat to environmental health due to their non-degradability in the environment and their long life span. Heavy metals are naturally present in the earth's crust. Rocks and minerals have a high impact on the concentration of elements in the soil and sometimes increase the concentration of the elements in the soil beyond the permitted level. Besides, human activities such as mining and related processing cause heavy metals propagation in the environment. Angouran Mineral Processing Complex includes Zinc and Lead Concentration Complexes and Zinc Factory is located in Dandi, Mahneshan city, northwest of Zanjan, Iran. Because of industrial activities development, some heavy metal processing has led to increasing their concentration in soil and other environmental media. hence, the purposes of this study were to determine the spatial pattern of Zn, Pb and Cd spreading around Angouran Mineral Processing Complex, to investigate their potential risk using different environmental indices, to identify ecological risk and carcinogenic risk, and to determine the contribution of anthropogenic and geogenic origin.
Angouran Mineral Processing Complex, with the geographical coordinate of 36°34′20 ˝N and 47°37′40 ˝E. The area is located in a metamorphic complex of the Sanandaj-Sirjan microplate in the Zagros orogenic belt affected by the Tertiary to Quaternary volcanic activities as well as the geothermal activities of the Urumieh-Dokhtar zone. It is composed of the present age river banks and alluvial deposits in the center along with conglomerate and red tuffs in the northern part.
Soil sampling was done from 0-20 cm depth in June 2016 (n=74). After the preparation of the samples, they were sent to the Zarazma laboratory for analysis of Zn, Pb, and Cd by ICP-OES. Statistical analysis of the data and index calculations were performed using Excel and SPSS software. Also, PMF 5.0 EPA (Positive Matrix Factorization) software was used to determine the source contribution to metal dispersion. Applied indices include enrichment factor (Ef), Geoaccumulation index (Igeo), pollution load indices (PLI) and modified pollution degree (mCd), ecological risk potential (PERI) and cancer risks (CR).
The soil in the study area is in a poor and serious condition that threats agriculture and animal husbandry, the main activities besides the industrials. Zn had the highest concentration with an average of 1648.1 ppm in the region and fallowed by Pb and Cd with a mean of 467.9 and 9.8 ppm, respectively.
The Igeo mean for Pb, Zn, and Cd were 1.7, 2.0, and 0.4, respectively, which indicated average contamination of Pb and Zn and non-contaminated to intermediate contamination of Cd. Igeo's result showed that the metals accumulation order was Zn> Pb> Cd. The extent of metal contamination was -2.4 to 8.9 for Pb, -0.4 to 8.3 for Zn, and -2.4 to 7.1 in terms of Cd, suggesting negative values for these metals which are in the range of non-polluted soils. High Cd contamination was observed only in 4.9% of the samples while EF showed high Cd enrichment (72/1). The mean Ef calculated for Zn, Pb and Cd were 37.1, 45.7 and 72.1, respectively, suggesting strong enrichment for Zn and Pb, but extremely strong for Cd. Cd is the most mobile metal in the soil and is likely to be absorbed through the plant's roots. The enrichment degree for all three metals in the region is wide. Contamination severity (Ff>10) in total observed for Zn, Pb, and Cd in 29.6%, 25.6% and 59.4% of samples, respectively, which indicates the very high impact of anthropogenic contamination sources. In general, it can be concluded from the Igeo and Ef index that samples collected from this area have enriched and contaminated by the examined heavy metals.
Given the various toxic effects of metals on the human body, the PERI index of metals in the soil varies from 42.8 to 35500.5 and showed a high environmental risk for Cd than for Zn and Pb. Based on the classification, 35% of sampling points showed high ecological risk.
The metal contamination degree in the soil was higher than expected. In the study area, mCd ranged from 0.8 to 723.4 and 60% of the samples showed high contamination. PLI calculation showed that the contamination range is between 0.7 and 627.8. The contamination range calculated by mCd and PLI revealed that 60% and 40% of the area is in very poor and inappropriate conditions, which shows a significant risk in agricultural land use.
CR for adults ranges from 0.2×10-2 to 0.5×10-5 while the mean is 0.1×10-3. Unexpectedly, Zn with an impact of 96.9% had the highest share in the carcinogenic risk of ingested contaminated soil. CR for children varies from 0.4×10-2 to 0.9×10-5 with a mean of 0.2×10-3. Similar to the results obtained from adult CR, Zn with 99.1% had the greatest effect on the carcinogenesis probability due to ingestion. Based on the CR classification, the risk was a middle and upper class for children.
The CR calculation for children and adults showed that the ingestion risk of contaminated soils contain Zn had the greatest effect on the risk of carcinogenicity and health problems. Absorption via skin and respiration of Zn, Pb and Cd were the next highest risk factors. Soil and dust ingestion was a potential source of exposure to environmental chemicals for both adults and children. Children may, in particular, consume large amounts of soil because of their tendency to play on the ground and carry the soil coated objects to their mouths. Due to the wide range of industrial activities in the region, agriculture in the study area poses a greater risk of carcinogenicity for the adult population.
PMF model was used to quantify the contribution of the different sources in Cd, Zn and Pb pollution. Comparing the metals prevalence in each factor and the information obtained from the regional field for the probable source of heavy metals, two factors were considered to the probable source of the heavy metals. Geogenic origin was the first-factor and anthropogenic origin was the second one. According to the results, the concentration of Zn in the second factor was 99% while the first factor was 1%. Therefore, the greatest impact on Zn concentration in the region is due to anthropogenic activities. Pb and Cd the second factor were estimated to be 90.2 and 95.7%.
Therefore, there is a need to reduce the risk of exposure to soil metals in order to maintain the health of the residents 'health and sustainability of the environment and animals in the area, including soil refining.

The quantitative and qualitative decline of groundwater in recent years has needed for proper management of water from these valuable resources. One of the important ways to achieve this goal is to monitoring groundwater quality. In the present study, 12 water quality parameters related to 63 wells in Ardebil plain were measured in June and September (dry and wet season), 2013-2012, then water quality indices were studied. After calculating the indices, the ArcGIS10 software were used to prepare the maps and then calculate some important statistical parameters. The results showed that groundwater in Ardebil Plain with EC and SAR indexes average, 405.17 microseisms per cm and 2.8 in the C3-S1 class, according to Wilcox classification, and had a low to moderate limit Salinity and without any limit in term of penetration in the soil. RSC, KR and PI Indicators, which express the risk of sodium, indicate that there is no sodium constraint and have a good quality. The CR index with 0.8 average also indicated a lack of groundwater corrosion risk. Investigating the Na and Cl also indicates an average limit for water toxicity for the plants cultivated in Ardebil plain. On the other hand, the zoning maps of the studied indices showed that salinity in some parts of the plain has a low to moderate limit, and in eastern and southern parts, it has no limitation. According SAR index most part of plain was unlimited, with only a small portion of the southern plain with moderate constraints. The LSI index showed that in most plain areas, the value of this index is greater than zero, and therefore there will be a risk of droplets.

Water quality is considered as one the most important factors in development of the civilizations and sustainability of human activities. Water quality can be evaluated by comparing the each of the chemical properties in water samples with their reference values. The single parameter comparison method has limitation and a comprehensive evaluation of the water quality is not possible with this method. Thus, water quality indices has been developed during the last 3 decades. The aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the water quality in Ardabil aquifer with a newly proposed drinking water quality index (DWQIProposed). The DWQIProposed was also were compared with the conventional water quality indices including DWQIA and DWQIG. Water samples were collected from 60 wells in Ardabil aquifer during the September 2014 and analyzed for 21 different physical, chemical, and biological properties. DWQIProposed were computed in four steps including parameter selection, parameter categorization, development of sub-index with regression statistics, and aggregating the sub indices. Results indicated that, although there was a quantitative difference between the DWQIProposed and DWQIG, but their probability distribution functions reflect a similar pattern. DWQIProposed and DWQIA have similar values for samples with excellent water quality. ANOVA results indicated that the mean difference between three indices is significant (P