Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Street dust is consisting of solid particles with complex compositions which can be an appropriate indicator to determine urban environmental contamination. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine spatial patterns and heavy metals contamination in the street dusts of Kashan.   

Materials and Methods: A total of 48 urban street dust samples were collected and total concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe, Cr, Ni, and Cd were determined in the dust samples. The geoaccumulation index was applied to assess heavy metals contamination. In addition, the spatial patterns of heavy metals concentrations in the street dust were determined using GIS.

Results: The results showed that the average concentrations of Zn, Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb and Cu in the street dust samples were 237.21, 0.43, 37.12, 16589.77, 13.62, 45.18 and 45.58 mg/kg, respectively. The average concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Fe were higher than their local background values. Based on geoaccumulation index, the heavy metals in the street dust were in the following decreasing order: Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cd > Cr.  According to the spatial analysis results, higher concentrations of heavy metals were observed in the city center and Kashan-Qom highway; whereas, lower concentrations were found in the residential regions.

Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, it seems the high concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cu and to a lesser extent Fe and Cd concentrations in the dust samples was derived from anthropogenic activities; whereas the concentration of Cr and Ni has been mostly affected by natural sources. The high concentrations of heavy metals in the street dusts of Kashan could be attributed to vehicle emissions and industrial activities.