Soil physico- chemical characteristics near the mining areas of Keonjhar District, Odisha, India

Soil pollution is mostlyrelated to human activities such as industry, agriculture, burning of fossil fuels, mining and metallurgical processes and their waste disposal. A work was undertaken to study the physico- chemical characteristics of soil at three villages like Raika, Bansapani and Kalinga near the mining area of Keonjhar District, Odisha. The physico- chemical parameters like pH, conductivity, organic carbon, and organic matter, N, P, K, Zn, Fe and Mn were analyzed following the standard methods. It was observed that, parameters like pH, conductivity, organic carbon and organic matter content did not show any significant difference between the three sampling stations. The minimum and maximum values for different parameters at all the three stations are; pH 6.43-6.7, conductivity 75.6–96.6, OC (%) 0.32-0.53 and OM (%) 0.82-0.98. However, the major soil nutrient like Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium content of soil in the three stations showed significant difference. Further, the micro- nutrient like Zn, Fe and Mn content of soil were also analyzed in the above three stations. There was no significant difference of Zn and Fe concentration between the stations however the manganese content of soil showed a significant difference. Abanti Pradhan and HimanshuSekhar Patra