Abstract

DELGADO, Carmen et al. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF Fe, Li, Mn, Pb, V AND Zn IN URBAN SOILS OF MORELIA, MICHOACAN, MEXICO. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2018, vol.34, n.3, pp.427-440. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2018.34.03.06.

Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico is the most populated city in the state of Michoacán, with high vehicular traffic and little industrialization. In Morelia, the presence of potentially toxic elements (PTE) has been reported in urban soils, among which Fe, Mn, Pb and V exceeded the limits established by the Mexican and US environmental standards. For the decision making it is necessary the location of the sites of greater contamination by the elaboration of maps with the spatial distribution of the PTE. The principal aim of this work was to analyze the spatial distribution of Fe, Li, Mn, Pb, V and Zn in the urban soils of Morelia to identify the areas with the highest concentration. In total, one hundred of top soil samples were collected. The analysis of the PTE was performed by inductively coupled optical plasma spectrometry. A geostatistical analysis was performed with ordinary kriging (OK) to know the distribution of PTE and with indicator kriging to identify the areas with the highest probability of contamination.The models of the variograms of Fe, Mn, Li and Zn with OK yielded values of R2 ≥ 0.8. The areas most likely to exceed environmental norms are: the dowtown for Fe and Pb, the east by Fe and V, the southwest by Mn and the west by Fe. In the downtown and east of the city there is the greatest contamination.

Keywords : contamination; heavy metals; Official Mexican standards; geoestatistics.