Pollution status of shooting range soils from Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn found in ammunition

Evaluation of concentration of heavy metals found in shooting range soil is important in assessing the pollution risk posed to biota. Soil samples from five shooting ranges found in Botswana were used in this study. All the five shooting ranges accumulated high concentration of Cu ranging from 67.4 ± 0.05 mg/kg to 1569 ± 13 mg/kg followed by Mn (25.9 ± 0.1-953.8 ± 2.8 mg/kg). Pollution risk indices were used to quantify the environmental pollution risk posed by the different heavy metals studied. It was established that even though all the five shooting ranges recorded low concentrations of Cd, this metal still posed the highest pollution risk than any other metal with S/P shooting range recording the highest potential ecological risk index (peri) of 8141 (C Cd ~ 3.6 ± 0.03 mg/kg) and TAB at PERI of 3507 (C Cd ~ 4.9 ± 0.02 mg/kg). Similarly, contamination factor (CF) value of 271 for Cd was measured at S/P shooting range indicating high contamination from Cd. Pollution risk indices were able to establish that even though concentration of Cd accumulated in the soil was low this heavy metal still posed highest pollution risk to biota. Continuous assessment of the pollution status of these shooting ranges should be carried out in order to establish appropriate best shooting range management practices and remedial strategies.