Heavy Metal Pollution of Soil in Vienna, Austria

Along an urbanization gradient, we explored the soil metal pollution in Vienna, Austria. We analyzed the physical and chemical parameters of topsoil from urban, suburban, and rural areas. The following elements were quantified using ICP-OES technique: Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sr, and Zn. For heavy metals, PI (pollution index) values were used to assess the level of pollution. We found that the concentration of Cu, Pb, Sr, and Zn was higher in the urban and suburban area than in the rural area. The PI values indicated a moderate level of pollution by Cd (1 <= PI <= 2) along the urbanization gradient. We found a low level of pollution for Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn (PI <= 1) in studied areas. Our findings demonstrated the presence of anthropogenic contamination, and it is likely that traffic emission may be the major source of metal pollution in Vienna. Our findings also demonstrated that the elemental analysis of soil and the values of PI are adequate indicators of the level of pollution based on soil sample analysis in urban ecosystems.