Soil pollution assessment along the E75 route section Belgrade-PreSevo

The study included examination of soil and plant material for the contents of some elements along the route E75 through Serbia, the section from Belgrade to PreSevo, a length of 400 km. European route E75 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe. Samples of soil and aerial parts of plant material were sampled from both sides of lanes at a distance of about 8 km and at 10, 30, 50 and 400 m perpendicular to the direction of the route. In the soil samples it were determined pH in 1MKCl and content of total concentrations of the following heavy metals: Cr, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni and Hg. The plant materials were analyzed for Cr, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni and Hg. It can be concluded that, besides the anthropogenic pollution, which is reflected in the excessive use of plant protection products and fertilizers, and also the impact of air pollution from motor vehicles in certain sections of the examined area, the dominant influence on concentration of some examined elements comes from geochemical composition of parent material from which the soils were developed.