Potentially toxic elements in soil of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Tribal areas, Pakistan: evaluation for human and ecological risk assessment

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) contaminations in the soil ecosystem are considered as extremely hazardous due to toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulative nature. Therefore, this study was aimed to summarize the results of published PTEs in soil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Tribal areas, Pakistan. Results were evaluated for the pollution quantification factors, including contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), ecological risk index (ERI) and human health risk assessment. The highest CF (797) and PLI (7.35) values were observed for Fe and ERI (857) values for Cd. Soil PTEs concentrations were used to calculate the human exposure for the risk assessment, including chronic or non-carcinogenic risks such as the hazard quotient (HQ) and carcinogenic or cancer risk (CR). The values of HQ were > 1 for the Cd, Co and Cr in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Tribal areas. Tribal areas showed higher values of ERI, HQ, and CR as compared to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that were attributed to the mining activities, weathering and erosion of mafic and ultramafic bedrocks hosting ophiolites. This study strongly recommends that best control measures need to be taken for soil PTEs with the intent to alleviate any continuing potential threat to the human health, property and environment, which otherwise could enter ecosystem and ultimately the living beings. Further studies are recommended to combat the soil PTEs concentrations and toxicity in the Tribal areas for a best picture of understanding the element effects on human, and environment can be achieved that will lead to a sustainable ecological harmony

Health risks associated with radon concentrations in carbonate and evaporite sequences of the uranium-rich district Karak, Pakistan

The present research was carried out to investigate the behavior of radon (222Rn) concentrations over the carbonate and evaporite sequences and to assess the related health hazards. A total of 50 points from three different stratigraphic units, namely, the Bahadurkhel Salt, Jatta Gypsum, and the Kohat Formation of the Eocene age, were analyzed for radon concentrations in the district of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Measurements for radon levels were made by using RAD7 of Durridge, United States. The highest average 222Rn concentration (16.5 Bq/L) was found in the limestone unit of the Kohat Formation of the Eocene age. However, the lowest radon levels were observed in the salt-bearing strata of the Bahadurkhel Salt of the Eocene age. The study revealed that the average radon concentration in all the lithologies varied in the order of RnLimestone &gt; RnSalt &gt; RnGypsum. The findings of the current research suggest that the study area is safe from radon-related health hazards.Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-09-26 (joosat);</p