Abstract:
Data referring to the abundance, contamination or pollution level and
content of heavy metals in labile and stable fractions of urban soils in two
important municipalities of Romania – Bucharest, the country’s capital and
Baia Mare the most important center of extracting and processing the
polymetallic sulphides are presented. Urban soils in both cities were grouped
in three categories, namely, park soils, soils in areas along the streets and
soils in vegetable and fruit gardens. Six heavy metals were analyzed: Cd, Cr,
Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. Urban soils in the Bucharest parks are not polluted with
heavy metals. They present only a contamination degree, while the soils in
the Baia Mare parks have a an average content 11 times higher than those in
Bucharest, being strongly polluted with Cd, Cu and Pb. Urban soils located
along the streets in Bucharest present slight (Cu, Pb, Zn) and moderate (Cd)
pollution, while those located along the streets in Baia Mare are
characterized by very strong (Pb), strong (Cd, Cu) and moderate (Zn)
pollution. Soils along the streets in Baia Mare are almost five times more
polluted than those in Bucharest. Urban soils in vegetable and fruit gardens
in Bucharest are characterized by strong (Cd), moderate (Zn) and slight
(Cu), while the similar soils in Baia Mare present strong (Cd, Cu, Zn) and
very strong (Pb) pollution. Pollution with heavy metals of urban soils in the
vegetable and fruit gardens in Baia Mare is over four times more intensive
than that in soils with similar use in Bucharest.
