Heavy metal pollution of urban soils

The chemical properties of urban soils (southeastern administrative district, Moscow) affecting the behavior of heavy metals were studied. The current heavy metal pollution level of the soils was assessed. The use of different approaches for the pollution standardization is shown to produce different results. The fractional composition of the metal compounds in the soils and the factors affecting its formation under technogenic pollution were investigated. In the district studied, the distribution of heavy metals by the fractions primarily depended on the chemical properties of the heavy metals themselves; the pollution level; and, to a lesser degree, on the soil properties. Zinc and cadmium were the most mobile metals in the soils studied.