The present paper deals with the assessment of heavy metals in soil and roadside dust around Misurata City Centre and industrial areas/roads in the period of October 2011–May 2012. The levels of Pb, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cd, Cr, and Cu in settled dust samples collected near small streets, playgrounds, gas stations and main streets in the Misurata Area have been determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Also, the levels of same heavy metals in industrial areas have been determined. Metal concentration trend variation was also discussed in relation with traffic density and other sources of fugitive emission around different sites on each road/area. The overall mean concentration for main streets was significantly higher ( ) than for other small streets, where Misurata has been the centre of fierce fighting and is located in a frontline battle zone in the Libyan war; therefore most of metal concentrations in surface soil in the fighting area Tripoli Street and Benghazi Street were higher than those from the other sites (outside fighting area). 1. Introduction Global industrialization and human social and agricultural activities have an effect on environmental pollution and the global ecosystem. The pollution of soil by heavy metals from automobile sources is a serious environmental issue. These metals are released during different operations of the road transport such as combustion, component wear, fluid leakage, and corrosion of metals. Lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc are the major metal pollutants of the roadside environments and are released from fuel burning, wear out of tires, leakage of oils, and corrosion of batteries, and metallic parts such as radiators [1]. Intake of heavy metals. In urban area, heavy metals in urban soil and urban road dusts can be accumulated in human body via direct inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact absorption. The most important sources of heavy metals in the environment are the anthropogenic activities such as mining, smelting procedures, steel and iron industry, chemical industry, traffic, and agriculture as well as domestic activities [2–12]. Chemical and metallurgical industries are the most important sources of heavy metals in soil [13–15]. Tracing an life and the environment [16]. The problem of environmental pollution due to toxic metals has begun to cause concern now in most of the major cities. Pollution of the environment with toxic metals has increased dramatically since the onset of the industrial revolution [17]. Soil pollution by heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead, chromium,
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