International Science Community Association Research Journal of Chemical Sciences 2231 - 606X 4 7 2014 July 18 Determination of Heavy metals in Street Dust from Different Types of Land Use of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 82 92 EN Jain Shubha 1 School of studies in Chemistry & Biochemistry, Vikram University, Ujjain-456010, INDIA Awasthi AshishKumar 2 Piplode Satish 3 Kenmogne S.B. 1 Laboratory of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 24157, University of Douala, CAMEROON Ngassoum M. 2 Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, P.O.Box.455 ENSAI Ngaoundéré, CAMEROON Tchatchueng J.B 3 Laboratory of Biology, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 24157, University of Douala, CAMEROON Vardamides J.C. 4 Dongmo A. 5 Mohanambal D. 1 Sriram Engineering College, Department of chemistry, Perumalpattu, Chennai-602024, Tamil Nadu, INDIA ArulAntony S. 2 PG and Research Department of Chemistry, Presidency College, Chennai–600 005, Tamil Nadu, INDIA Shaikh Sharekh 1 Department of Chemistry, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad Sub-Campus, Osmanabad, MS, INDIA Joshi Shobha 1 Govt. Shaheed Bhagirath Silawat College, Depalpur, Indore, MP, INDIA Sharma Sonal 2 Dept. of Chemistry, Govt. Holkar Science College, Indore, MP, INDIA Yadav Mukesh 3 Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Softvision College, Indore, MP, INDIA Sengupta Priya 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttrakhand, INDIA Agarwal Bhumica 2 Balomajumder Chandrajit 3 K. Ramesh 1 Department of Chemistry, Arasu Engineering College, Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, INDIA Rajappa A. 2 Department of Chemistry, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Pondicherry, INDIA Nandhakumar V. 3 Department of Chemistry, A.V.V.M Sri Pushpam College, Poondi, Tamilnadu, INDIA Preetha B. 1 Department of Chemistry, University College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, INDIA-695034 Janardanan C. 2 Department of Chemistry, Sree Narayana College, Thottada P.O., Kannur, Kerala, INDIA-670 007 Dwivedi Shubha 1 Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, INDIA Mondal Prasenjit 2 Department of Biotechnology, S.D. College of Engineering and Technology, Muzaffarnagar, UP, INDIA Balomajumder Chandrajit 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, INDIA Wadhwani Meena 1 Advance College of Science & Commerce, Ujjain, MP, INDIA Jain Shubha 2 School of Studies in Chemistry & Biochemistry, Ujjain, MP, INDIA Dandolia H.S. 1 Bhoj Open University, Kolar Road, Bhopal, MP, INDIA Kadam C.P. 2 Government Kamla Raja, Girls (Autonomous) Postgraduate College, Gwalior, MP, INDIA Shrotriy V.P. 3 School of Studies in Zoology, Jiwaji University, Gwalior, MP, INDIA Kausik S. 4 Saksena D.N. 5 Agbaire P.O. 1 Chemistry Department, Delta State University, Abraka, NIGERIA Akporido S.O. 2 Akporhonor E.E. 3 ShakyaPawan Raj 1 Faculty of Science, Padma Kanya Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Bagbazar, Kathmandu, NEPAL Karmacharya Neena 2 Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, NEPAL Singh KansakarSwahitBir 3 Kaji ShakyaRamesh 4 Wagle KrishnaKumari 5 Shrestha Mahesh 6 > Research Paper 2014 6 27 2014 July 18 A total of 45 street dust were sampled from five different types of land use viz., industrial, urban, heavy traffic road, residential and undisturbed areas of Kathmandu valley, Nepal. The samples were fractionated into seven different particle sizes (2000-710, 710-425, 425-150, 150-75, 75-53, 53-38 and 38 m) and analyzed for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The effect of particle sizes on metal distribution were also assessed using three contamination indices such as enrichment factor (EF), distribution factor (DF) and mass loading (%) for metals. Results revealed that the dust of industrial use was found to have the highest concentrations of Zn (135.1 mg kg-1) and Cu (98.9 mg kg-1) while the heavy traffic road use exhibited the highest concentrations of Cd (0.85 mg kg-1) and Pb (63.6 mg kg-1) in dust samples. The mean concentrations of all the land uses for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in bulk samples were 1.3, 62.3, 44.5 and 99.0 mg kg-1 respectively while the enrichment ratio for the metals in dust of Kathmandu valley were found to be 4.8, 7.3, 2.4 and 3.4 respectively. The concentration of all metals in different particle size fractions was found to be increased with decrease in their sizes indicating the preferential partitioning of metals in fine particle sizes. The enrichment factor revealed a slight to severe degree of enrichment for all the land uses and for all metals with few exceptions. The distribution factor indicated the preferential accumulation of metals in the finest particle fractions (38 m). Similarly, the mass loading (%) for metals showed that the coarse particle size fractions (& Copyright@ International Science Community Association