ABSTRACT

Dust samples from roads classified based on traffic volumes (low, medium and high traffic) were collected from Muscat, Oman, and then analyzed for a dozen heavy metals. Their contents varied widely with mercury and iron, having the lowest and highest concentrations (0.59–0.80 and 406.10–429.00 ppm, respectively). Contrary to most metals detected, mercury and arsenic did not only exhibit increasing trends from low to high categories, but they also were significantly correlated to each other and traffic volumes, suggesting that both might originate from vehicular emissions. While the calculations revealed that the potential ecological risk index (RI) for selected metals in the dust samples was at a considerable level, the hazard index (HI) was within the safe threshold value (HI < 1). Overall, our findings imply minor prejudicial health risks to the general public nevertheless, children would be relatively more vulnerable to the impact of metals associated with dust.

摘要

从阿曼马斯喀特收集了根据交通量（低、中和高交通量）分类的道路灰尘样本，然后分析了十几种重金属。它们的含量随汞和铁的变化而变化很大，浓度最低和最高（分别为 0.59–0.80 和 406.10–429.00 ppm）。与检测到的大多数金属相反，汞和砷不仅表现出从低到高的增加趋势，而且它们彼此之间以及交通量也存在显着相关性，这表明两者都可能来自车辆排放。虽然计算表明，粉尘样品中选定金属的潜在生态风险指数（RI）处于相当水平，但危害指数（HI）在安全阈值（HI < 1）内。全面的，