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Gas flaring has the potential of polluting soil with heavy metals and consequently lead to poor fertility and reduced yield. This study investigates the impact of gas flaring on metal pollution of soil at Obunagha, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Soil samples were collected with soil auger at depths of 0-15 cm from distances of 200 m, 500 m, 1000 m, 2000 m, and 3000 m away from the flaring point of the Gbarain-Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas Plant. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity and Cation Exchange Capacity were determined. Samples were extracted sequentially and heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe) were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS). The pH values of the soil samples ranged from 4.63±0.06 to 6.87±0.06 indicating that the soils were acidic. The Electrical conductivity values ranged from 20±0.00 to 39.7±0.58 (µS/cm) while the Cation exchange capacity values ranged from 2.4±0.01 to 6.95±0.01 (meq/100 g), which are suggestive of the soil capacity to adsorbs metals. The results of the analysis of variance on heavy metals indicates non significance for *P> 0.05 while **P< 0.05 is significant. The closest distance (200 m) to the flaring point has the highest concentrations for all the metals studied while the farthest distance (3000 m) has the least concentrations. Also, the results revealed that the concentrations of all the metals studied decreased from the first fraction which is the water-soluble fraction to the sixth fraction (residual fraction). The concentrations of the metals analyzed for all the samples were higher than those recommended by DPR, WHO, and US EPA indicating that gas flaring activities in the study area has polluted the soil of the study area with the heavy metals studied.
Young et al. (Wed,) studied this question.