Spatial distribution of physico-chemical properties and function of heavy metals in soils of Yelagiri hills, Tamilnadu by energy dispersive X-ray florescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) with statistical approach.

Soil physico-chemical properties were thought to be important factors in obscuring clear identification of pollutant sources. In the present study physicochemical properties such as, pH, electrical conductivity, bulk density, porosity density, soil texture and color were determined to identify the pollution status using different conventional analytical methods in soils of Yelagiri Hills, Tamilnadu. Soil pH ranges from 5.39 to 8.43 which indicate that the soils are acidic to alkaline in nature. The concentrations of selected heavy metals were determined using energy dispersive X-ray florescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) technique. In all the locations Al is the most abundant metal and Co is the least amount in soil. The relationship between the physico-chemical properties and heavy metals were studied by Pearson correlation. The statistical technique shows that strong significant correlation among the heavy metals. The Chemometric approaches namely: principal component analyses (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), were used for identify the soil pollutant. Spatial distribution of physico-chemical properties of soil such as pH, soil texture (sand, silt, clay) electrical conductivity was studied by geo-statistical methods such as kriging identified areas. The heavy metal mapping also attempted to know the distribution pattern in soils.