Background: Soils have a key role in establishment and growth of biota and also are as a natural resource, national capital and life substrate in any country. Therefore, every contamination can be transferred from soils to higher food levels with its negative impacts. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate oil pollution in soils caused by the establishment of Shahid Tondgovian Oil Storage in Zanjan province. The depot has three storage tanks with capacity of 47, 35 and 26 million liters of oil and gasoline and kerosene, respectively.
Methods: Soil samples were collected from a depth of 5-15 cm at 20 sites and the values ​​of EC, pH and PAHs were measured. Then T-test was used to compare the results with standards and control sites.
Results: The mean of pH and EC results were 8.24 and 281 µ/cm, respectively. The results showed PAHs values ​​were lower than the standard and there was no statistically significant difference between the study sites and the control one (P > 0.05). Also, the amount of benzo (a) pyrene compound, used as an indicator of total PAHs to study carcinogenic effects, was lower than standard in study area. Therefore, there is no health risk for the oil residents in collected samples from Shahid Tondgoian Oil Storage.
Conclusion: Currently, oil pollution is not observed in the soils around the study area and there is no health risk for the residents in the suburbs.