Soil horizon-dependent heavy metals, and micro-and macro-elements distributions: A case study of Futoški park (Novi Sad, Serbia)

We analyzed macro-(Ca, Mg, and K) and microelements (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in soil from three depths that correspond to different soil horizons (0-60, 61-75, and 76-160 cm) from three sites in Futoški park (Novi Sad, Serbia), which was measured by using the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). In this study, we tested the influence of spatial arrangement and soil depth on the variation of micro-and macro-element contents using (i) two-way ANOVA with the site, soil depth, and their interactions as dependent variables, (ii) Tukey post-hoc test (for p<0.05), and (iii) principal component analyzes (PCA). Except for Cd, all measured samples are below of the limit value prescribed by the Serbian national legislation. Likewise, Cr is very close to the maximum allowed amount. According to the results of two-way ANOVA statistics, sites, soil depth, as well as their interaction statistically significantly influenced the content of all examined macro-and micro-elements in the analyzed soils. Following the PCA (which covers ˃90% of samples), surface horizons deviate from all three sites, and stronger deviations between the first and the other two horizons which are very similar were noted. In detail, on the surface horizon higher concentrations of K, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn were detected, opposite to Ca, Cd, and Mg.