Heavy Metals in the Environment in Ebonyi Basin, South East Nigeria

This work evaluates the concentration of some heavy metals in soil, stream sediment, groundwater and surface water in Ebonyi Basin, South Eastern Nigeria.The potential for heavy metals'' pollution of these environmental media in these areas is high. Availability of the metals and the presence of factors capable of mobilizing,distributing and storing them into the hydrologic and pedologic systems are established.It is also established that there is significant pollution of soil by Pb, Zn and Cd; stream sediments by Pb, Zn, Ni and to a smaller extent Cu; and groundwater by Pb and Cd.The areas with history of mining of Pb – Zn deposits have the highest concentration of these metals.Manufacturing industry is not developed in the study area; the only sources of metal enrichment in the analyzed environmental media are earth materials.There is a reasonable proximity of the anomalies (polluted zones) to areas of known mineralization.This work is especially useful to students, lecturers, researchers and other professionals involved in environmental research especially the impact of small scale mining in the environment.