Analysis and Quality Assessment of Roadside Dust : A case stidy of Jharia Coalfield, Dhanbad district, Jharkhand

Road-side dust originates from interaction of solid, liquid and gaseous materials produced from different sources. Street dusts often contain elevated concentrations of a range of toxic elements. The present study area lies in the coal mining dominated regions of Dhanbad district in eastern part of the Jharkhand state. Sampling of the road-side dusts was carried out along the roads of Jharia Coalfield. The physico-chemical parameters: particle size distribution, texture analysis, bulk density, particle density, total porosity, maximum water holding capacity, moisture content, volume expansion, specific gravity, pH, electrical conductivity and organic carbon and organic matter. Heavy metal analysis was carried out with the help of Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Principal Component Analysis was conducted on the heavy metals in order to know the correlation between the variables, the sources of contamination etc. The contamination level of the heavy metals was also computed as Geoaccumulation index. The road dust samples were mainly sandy in nature and had a high bulk and particle density, low porosity, water holding capacity and low organic carbon and matter content, hence a high pH