Bioavailability and health risk of some potentially toxic elements (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in street dust of Asansol, India

Street dust samples were collected from five different types of land use patterns (busy traffic zone, urban residential area, national highways, industrial area and sensitive area) in a medium sized industrial city Asansol, India. The samples were fractionated into <= 53 mu m and analyzed for potential toxic elements (PTEs) viz. Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu. The mean total concentration of Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu in the urban street dust samples were 192, 0.75, 110 and 132 mg kg(-1) respectively. Chemical speciation was performed for PTEs to evaluate the bio-available fractions. Cu was mostly associated with organic matter phase while Zn, Pb and Cd with residual phase. Mean mobility factor (MF) for heavy metals in Asansol was Zn (54.6%) > Pb (49.1%) > Cu (25.3%) > Cd (22.7%). Geo-chemical indices such as Enrichment Factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and contamination Factor (CF) were in the order of Pb > Cd > Zn > Cu. Cluster analysis was done to understand the similarities among the sites. The risks of all metals was calculated with mobile fraction, which indicated actual risk due to PTEs was less (HI < 1).