Abstract：
The need to generate internal revenue by most individuals and government in Nigeria has led to the establishment of quarries in different parts of Ebonyi state of Nigeria. This study was aimed at determining the risk associated with the heavy metal burden in the state. Soil samples from the quarrying environments designated as MS1, MS2, and MS3 were analyzed for the metal profile using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The result showed that the mean concentration of metals which is a representation of the whole sites showed a higher concentration of Ca (40.065 ± 1.011 ppm), Mg (12.450 ± 8.815 ppm), K (16.631 ± 14.670 ppm), and Mn (19.539 ± 3.225 ppm) while Na (1.326 ± 0.117 ppm) was low. The heavy metal profile showed Pb (0.120 ± 0.027 ppm), Fe (27.718 ± 1.523 ppm), Zn (2.227 ± 0.570 ppm), Cu (6.267 ± 1.402 ppm), Ni (1.856 ± 0.472 ppm), Mo (1.758 ± 0.258 ppm), Cd (0.023 ± 0.006 ppm), Cr (0.037 ± 0.011 ppm), etc. Hg was found to be below detectable limit while the Cs was not radioactive. The mean values were found to be lower than the permissible limit of each metal. The pollution index (PI) was calculated for the different sites, and the result reveals that MS3 (0.0426) had a higher PI when compared to MS1 (0.0341) and MS2 (0.0317). Therefore, the PI of the sites showed MS3 > MS1 > MS2. These results showed that the environment is still as safe as PI < 1. The geoaccumulation index also showed a safe environment since its values were less than 0 which means that the environment is practically uncontaminated. Other risk determining parameters showed that the three locations were still within a safe level. Although the results of the study have shown a safe environment, it is still necessary to keep close monitoring of the heavy metal profile of the environment, since these metals can bioaccumulate in living tissues with time.
摘要：
尼日利亚大多数个人和政府需要产生内部收入，这导致在尼日利亚埃博尼州的不同地区建立了采石场。这项研究旨在确定与该州重金属负担相关的风险。使用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICP-OES）分析了采石环境中指定为MS1，MS2和MS3的土壤样品的金属轮廓。结果表明，代表整个位点的金属的平均浓度显示出更高的Ca浓度（40.065±1.011ppm），Mg(12.450±8.815ppm),K(16.631±14.670ppm),Mn(19.539±3.225ppm)而Na(1.326±0.117ppm)较低。重金属剖面显示Pb（0.120±0.027ppm），Fe(27.718±1.523ppm),锌（2.227±0.570ppm），Cu(6.267±1.402ppm),Ni(1.856±0.472ppm),Mo(1.758±0.258ppm),Cd(0.023±0.006ppm),Cr(0.037±0.011ppm),等。发现Hg低于可检测的极限，而Cs没有放射性。发现平均值低于每种金属的允许极限。计算了不同地点的污染指数(PI)，结果表明，与MS1（0.0341）和MS2（0.0317）相比，MS3（0.0426）具有更高的PI。因此,站点的PI显示MS3>MS1>MS2。这些结果表明，环境仍然与PI<1一样安全。地质累积指数也显示出安全的环境，因为其值小于0，这意味着环境实际上未被污染。其他风险确定参数显示，这三个地点仍在安全水平内。尽管研究结果显示了一个安全的环境，仍然有必要密切监测环境中的重金属分布，因为这些金属可以随着时间的推移在活组织中生物积累。
