Abstract Heavy metal contamination of soil is a major environmental and public health concern, particularly in agricultural and industrial regions like Egypt's Assiut Governorate. The objective of this study was to assess the distribution, sources, and possible health risks of heavy metals in 23 soil samples collected from agricultural areas close to industrial sites. Although it has been studied globally, this methodology has not been used in this context. This work describes, for the first time within the study area, a novel and context-specific health risk assessment method for heavy metal exposure by oral, cutaneous, and inhalation routes. Physical property analysis revealed a sandy loam texture, low organic matter content (average 2.7%), and high pH level (average 7.83), all of which contribute to increased metal mobility and decreased nutrient retention. Significant amounts of SiO 2 (average 53.6 ppm) and CaO (average 8.17 ppm) were found in the major oxide analysis, indicating calcareous parent materials. Elevated levels of Na 2 O (up to 5.32 ppm) showed potential sodicity issues. Trace element analysis revealed significant pollution, with levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and chromium ranging from 10.3 to 23.3 ppm, 0.6 to 2.16 ppm, and 26.7 to 203.5 ppm, respectively, frequently exceeding global background levels. This shows the contributions of both important human activity and the natural world. These findings were corroborated by pollution indices, which indicated significant industrial and agricultural impacts due to high Enrichment Factor (EF) values for arsenic, cadmium, and cobalt. For all metals examined, the Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI), ecological risk assessments, and the geoacumulation index (I geo ) showed a low to moderate risk level. Principal component analysis (PCA) and dendrogram clustering are two multivariate statistical techniques that provide important information about the origins and geographic distribution of these contaminants. Four primary components were discovered using PCA; PC1 (44.9% variance) represented metal pollution and mineralogical composition, while PC2 (15.1% variance) highlighted the impacts of salinity, which were probably impacted by waste management and irrigation techniques. Dendrogram analysis highlighted the complex paths of pollution in the region by further differentiating between main geogenic sources and secondary anthropogenic impacts. Significant carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were found in health risk assessments, especially for youngsters. The cancer risk (CR) linked to chromium was shown to be 0.000879, highlighting significant long-term health consequences, while the overall hazard index (HI) for children reached 4.25, significantly surpassing the acceptable limit of 1.
El‐Anwar et al. (Fri,) studied this question.