title: The Extent and Prediction of Heavy Metal Pollution in Soils of Shahrood and Damghan, Iran.
abstract: The levels of 12 heavy metals (Ag, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Tl, V, Zn) were considered in 229 soil samples in Semnan Province, Iran. To discriminate between natural and anthropogenic inputs of heavy metals, factor analysis was used. Seven factors accounting for 90.5 % of the total variance were extracted. The mining and agricultural activities along with geogenic sources have been attributed as the main causes of the levels of heavy metals in the study area. The partial least squares regression was utilized to predict the level of soil pollution index (SPI) considering the concentrations of 12 heavy metals. The eigenvectors from the first three PLS represented more than 98 % of the overall variance. The correlation coefficient between the observed and predicted SPI was 0.99 indicating the high efficiency of this method. The resultant coefficient of determination for three PLS components was 0.984 confirming the predictive ability of this method.
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Shahid Shabanloo Avenue, Lavizan, Tehran, 1678815811, Iran. msakizadeh@gmail.com.
authors: Mohamad
authors: M
authors: Sakizadeh
authors: Department of Environment, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
authors: Rouhollah
authors: R
authors: Mirzaei
authors: Water and Soil Department, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran.
authors: Hadi
authors: H
authors: Ghorbani
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis; D007492:Iran; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008906:Mining; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Factor analysis; Heavy metals; Partial least squares regression; Soil pollution