Geochemical implication of hydrocarbon exploitation on soil around crude oil producing area of Uzere, Niger Delta region, Nigeria

Abstract The crude oil sector in Nigeria continues to be a significant source of income and foreign currency. However, operations related to oil exploration and production have the potential to seriously alter the environment, having an impact on ecosystems, water bodies, and human life. In many cases, pollution indices are viewed as a useful instrument for thoroughly evaluating contamination levels. Additionally, they may have a significant weight when evaluating soil quality and the forecast of long-term ecosystem viability, in the case of farmlands, in particular. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to examine the heavy metal contents (AAS). Potential ecological risk index, Geoaccumulation index, Nemerow pollution, Pollution load index, Contamination Index (CI), and metal pollution index were the seven indicators employed in the study. The concentration of heavy metal such as Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pb), Chromium (Cr), Arsenic (As). Ranges from 11.9 to 184.1, 920 to 8870, 1.1 to 9.9, 9.7 to 60.4, 0.001 to 0.001, 2.4 to 34.7, 2.2 to 11.5 and 0.001 to 0.001 mg/kg respectively. The correlation matrix showed that there were positive correlation between Mn and Ni; Fe and Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr; Cu and Cr; Zn and Pb, Cr; and Pb and Cr; while a negative correlation exist between Cu and Ar, Cr and Ar.PCA showed that 75% of the samples in PC1 has loadings, in PC2, they have 50% of the parameters having loadings, in PC3 25% of the parameters had loading while in the PC4, 12.5% of the entire parameter has a loadings.Findings from aforementioned indices revealed that analyzed soil samples are polluted.