The Investigation of Trace Heavy Metal Concentrations in the Street Dust Samples Collected from Kayseri, Turkey

Abstract

As street dust are environmentally important materials for the investigation of trace metal pollutions, the levels of heavy metal ions of street dusts from Kayseri-Turkey were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after digestion with aqua regia. Copper, cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, manganese, and cobalt levels in the dust samples were found in the range of 12-315, 1-45, 31-96, 23-85, 49-381, 84-532, and 11-137 µg/g, respectively. The highest metal concentrations were found in the streets with heavy traffic. A good correlation was found between the metal concentrations.