distribution of nickel in some surface soils of Qom province

Heavy metals are known to be the most dangerous environmental pollutants because they do not decompose by physical processes and therefore remain for a long time and will be effective in biochemical cycles and ultimately in the human food chain, disrupting biological reactions and damaging organs. And they will even die. Therefore, in order to control the quality of the environment, it is important to study the heavy elements in the soil. So far, much research has been done to identify contaminated areas and implement sustainable land use policies with respect to the risk of contamination. In this study, the spatial distribution of nickel in surface soils (0-10 cm) in parts of Qom province with urban-industrial, agricultural and uncultivated land uses with an area of 883 Km2 was investigated. In this study, geostatistical tools (ordinary kriging) were used. Sampling was performed at 209 points on a grid with distances of about 1.5 × 1.5 km in agricultural and urban land use and about 2×2 km in uncultivated land use. Concentration of total nickel and absorbable soil was measured by atomic absorption spectrometer. Statistical and geostatistical studies were performed by SPSS, Variowin and WINGSLIB software and contamination map was drawn with Surfer16 software. The results showed that the concentration of nickel in any of the forms in the region did not show toxicity. But there were significant differences in land uses. Existing industries, parent materials, and nickel-rich basic and ultra-basic rocks, the use of phosphate fertilizers and sewage sludge may have increased nickel, and the direction of westerly winds has led to the transfer of nickel in the region.