Abstract

Suruchi Gupta and Sarika Sharma

India is the second largest producer of cement in the world with an installed capacity of 330 million tones (2011-12)¹.The Sarvottam, Tiger and Nokha mini-cement plants were established in 90&rquot;s at Nokha tehsil (Bikaner)in the western Rajasthan. These factories have emitted cement dust in the vicinity for a long time. Therefore, to study the effect of cement dust on soil and plants eighty samples of soil were collected at surface and 15 cm depth around the factory within the radius of 3 km in four radial directions. This cement dust deposited on upper most soil contain elements like Zn, Cu, Mn, and Na well above permissible limits with higher pH, which are hazardous to plants and soil structure.

Cement dust; Zinc; Copper; Manganese; Sodium; pH; Soil surface; Radial direction

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