Kamel Khalil*⁽¹⁾, Nour Aldin Youssef⁽²⁾, Assem Hamd⁽¹⁾

(1).Environmental Prevention Department, Higher Institute for Environmental Research, Tishreen University.

(2).Water Resources Directorate in Tartous Governorate.

(*Corrsponding author: Dr. Kamel Khalil. Email:     d.kamelkhalil@tishreen.edu.sy)

Received: 29/06/2020                              Accepted: 01/09/2020

Abstract:

This study aimed to estimate the concentration of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) elements in the bark samples of three tree species: Citrus aurantium – Ligustrum vulgaris – Melia azedarach. Samples were taken from /4/ locations in the city of Tartous with different traffic density in 2016. The concentration of Cd and Ni was estimated by using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results showed that the highest concentration of Cd (0.135 ppm) and Ni (0.6177 ppm) elements was at the Tourism rotary site, and the highest accumulation of Cd  (0.123 ppm) in the bark of the Melia azedarach trees while the highest accumulation of Ni  (0.5146 ppm) in the bark of the Citrus aurantium trees but these concentrations were overall within the natural limits Cd (0.01-0.3ppm) and Ni (0.1-5 ppm). In general, the accumulation of Cd and Ni was higher in the summer than in the spring. This research confirms the possibility for using the bark of trees as a bioaccumulator for heavy metals.

Key words: Heavy metals, Trees bark, bioaccumulator, Tartous ( Syria).

Full paper in Arabic: PDF