Environmental impact of Gümüşhane City, Turkey, waste area in terms of heavy metal pollution

The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of a heavy metal contamination in a solid waste site of Gümüşhane City, Turkey, to examine the dimensions of the risk of contamination, and to present suggestions for possible solutions. For this purpose, heavy metal contents of soil and leachate samples taken from a Gümüşhane waste site were determined by a new method, microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES). When the obtained results are compared with background and control values, it can be seen that the region carries contamination risks, especially in terms of heavy metals such as Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, and Co. To examine the environmental effects of the landfill area in more detail, geodeposition index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), contamination index (PI), and combined contamination index (IPI) parameters are used. In addition, the samples taken from an area supposed to be free of pollution risk were also analyzed as control samples, and the obtained data were statistically compared with the results of the waste area. It is determined that the results of landfill waste site are dissimilar to those of comparison samples in terms of investigated metals, and that they contained higher values in general.