Mercury content in garden soils of urban agglomeration

The study report the degree of mercury contamination in garden soils of urban agglomeration
and local sources of heavy metals emission like traffic and coal combustion. The urban soils
have been compared with cultivated rural counterparts, developed on similar parent material.
Mercury contents in urban garden samples showed two to nine fold increase over the rural
areas and were in the range 52.2 – 293.9 μg·kg-1 in surface horizons and 33.0 – 97.6 μg·kg-1
in subsoils. The accumulation of mercury in topsoils suggests that atmospheric fall-out is the
main source of contamination. The major fraction of Hg was bound to soil organic matter. It
has been demonstrated that soil organic matter is significant sink for anthropogenic Hg in
urban sandy soils.