Heavy metals in soils from urbanized oak ecosystems in Sofia region

Urbanization and the impact of the process on natural ecosystems is growing exponentially and attracting the attention of scientists from all over the world. The pollution of the cities with heavy metals emitted from transport and everyday life is part of this process. The pollution of urban parks as places for recreation and health needs to be examined having in mind that these microelements, even in very small quantities, affect a number of physiological processes in plants and can also enter the human body with negative consequences. In this work we examine the quantitative accumulation of heavy metals in urban park soils, in the forest litter and in the fine roots of the trees. The results of the sequential extraction of heavy metals Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd by Kuznetchov & Shimko method and their forms of existence in urbanized soils from urban parks are presented separately. A regression and multifactoral data analysis is applied. Indicative of the contaminations of the urban park soils are Pb and Cd, while the presence of Cu and Zn are in relation mainly with parent materials.