Enrichment, sources and ecological risk mapping of heavy metals in agricultural soils of dhaka district employing SOM, PMF and GIS methods

Rapid urbanization and industrial growth have triggered heavy metal contamination in agricultural soil in Dhaka, which is a serious concern for ecological risk and public health issues. In this study, fifty-four soil samples from agricultural lands of Dhaka had been analyzed for assessing accumulation, spatial enrichment, ecological risk and sources apportionment of heavy metals using a combined approach of self-organizing map (SOM), positive matrix factorization (PMF), geographical information system (GIS), and enrichment factor (EF). The results of the enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index and contamination factor index showed that more than 90% of the soil samples were polluted by higher levels of Cr and Cd. The mean pollution load index (PLI) results demonstrated that about 73% of soil samples were moderately…