Ecological Risks Caused by Heavy Metal Accumulation in Umurbey Plain (NW Türkiye)

This study aims to assess the ecological risks in the agricultural soils of the Umurbey Plain in Çanakkale, NW Türkiye. To evaluate the anthropogenic impact on the studied soil samples, various indices and statistical analyses were employed. Our results revealed that the elements Cu, Cr, and Ni exhibited very high contamination levels at all stations. As showed high contamination at nearly all other stations, with a strong positive correlation to CaCO₃. Ni, Cd, Cr, and As demonstrated moderate to significant enrichment at these stations. Cu displayed very high to significant enrichment, likely associated with the use of bordeaux mixture in fruit orchards. The calculated average mEri values indicated that Ni, As, Cu, and Cd posed significant potential ecological risks at many stations, while other elements, including Hg and Tl, also presented risks. The Spearman correlation analysis among the variables revealed that the sources of the metals Pb, Zn, Mn, Fe, V, and Cd differed from those of Ni, As, and Cr.