Urban park soils metals distribution in the Victoria area, British Columbia

Abstract

Surface soils in 20 urban parks in the Greater Victoria area were sampled and screened using a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer. Bioaccessibility results indicated that human health risks were acceptable at all sites. Bioaccessibility was compared to soil properties using regression. Generally, a positive correlation was discovered between soil organic carbon content and percent bioaccessibility. Total metal results using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry showed strong correlation with XRF results indicating that XRF is a useful tool in assisting with sample selection for laboratory analysis. This study also focused on measuring the distance between known industrial emission sources and the parks. Generally, a negative correlation was discovered between emission sources and soil metals concentrations (i.e., metal concentrations were higher closer to the source).