HEAVY METALS IN ROADSIDE: CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SNOW AND SOIL AND THE DEPENDENCE OF THE PROPERTIES OF HEAVY METALS ON LOCAL CONDITIONS

The behaviour of lead, copper, zinc, manganese, and cadmium was investigated in roadside by chemical analysis of snow and soil.Traffic of over 1000 vehicles per day was found to increase the concentration of heavy metals in roadside within a distance of up to 100 m from the road.The concentration of cadmium was not correlated with traffic density.The main factor influencing the solubility and mobility of heavy metals was the pH of meltwater and soil.Alkalinity is rising with growing traffic and the metals become less soluble.No effect of chloride, which is used for deicing roads, on the solubility could be detected by correlation analysis.Principal component method was used to reveal connections between pH, chloride, distance from road, soluble and total concentrations of metals, and the location of sampling.