Determination of heavy concentration in soil along the road shoulder in front of the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) Jeli Campus

The study of heavy metals in road shoulder soils is critical as road shoulder is a recipient for all pollutants associated with runoff resulted from vehicles moving on the road and this pollutant eventually would end up in the river nearby or shallow groundwater. There was yet research been done to determine the heavy metals in the road shoulder soils in front of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) Jeli Campus. Thus, distribution of heavy metals in the rural area road shoulder soils along UMK Jeli Campus is studied. The purpose of the study was to determine the type of heavy metals that present in the soil along the highway road shoulder. Apart of that, the study also was to determine the concentration of heavy metals such as Zn, Pb, Mn, Cd and Cu. The data obtained were compared with the standard. The soil samples were collected and analyzed for the concentration of Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn and Cd elements using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The sampling had been done twice along 10 stations. Furthermore, the vehicle traffic count is also done. The results show that the Mn concentration was the highest for the both sampling. On the other hand, Cd concentration was the lowest for the both sampling. All the concentration of heavy metals studied is higher compared to the standard except for Mn. Although Mn had the highest concentration but it falls below the natural range. The values of the heavy metal suggest that vehicle is a major source of heavy metals contamination in the road shoulder soils since there are no industries activities. One-Way ANOVA Test was used to determine significance differences between sampling station and the results showed that, there was no significant different between sampling station. The results of the study not only provide information on the concentration of heavy metals in the road shoulder but also can be use as a basis to develop the standard for Malaysia.