Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127

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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances

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Assessing the quality and heavy metal contamination of soil in tea gardens
around Magurchara gas blowout in Bangladesh using multivariate and soil
quality index methods
Mohammad Sadman Alam, Shetu Akter∗, Shahnaj Shemul, Tayabur Rashid Chowdhury,
Sabrin Ara
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

a b s t r a c t

Explosive gas blowouts cause severe damage to gas-bearing rocks, structures, local tectonic settings, and the environment. Bangladesh has seen three high-profile
gas explosions. One of these is the Magurchara gas well blowout in Kamalganj union, Moulvibazar district, on June 14, 1997. Soil erosion was the most important
problem in the surrounding area, particularly the tea gardens. This study’s goal was to analyze the soil quality around the Magurchara gas well blowout in the
Kamalganj union. In this case, soil samples were collected (some near the well, others further away) and analyzed in the laboratory. Soil bulk density (BD), soil
porosity (SP), soil moisture content (SOM), pH, total nitrogen (TN), soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil organic matter (SOM) have been measured, and the results
show that in most places, the values do not fulfill the requirements for good tea plant growth. Heavy metal concentrations were evaluated using digestion and
an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Interpolation was performed to depict the heavy metal distribution in the research area. Soil contamination was
assessed utilizing the geo-accumulation index, contamination factor, ecological risk, and enrichment factor. Multivariate statistical methods like principal component
analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were utilized to assess soil quality. The results show that tea garden soils are contaminated, and the high quantity of Cd
in the research region implies severe contamination. The mean ecological risk index (Eri ) for five heavy metals was Cd > Pb > Cu > Ni > Zn, indicating a future
moderate risk to the environment. This study also demonstrated Cd to be a serious concern to the environment and tea plantation soils. The existing quality of the
soil surrounding the blowout is unfavorable for tea plant growth. Despite its flaws, this study will certainly help to understand the current state of tea garden soils
near the gas well blowout and lay the groundwork for future studies in this area.

1. Introduction
Bangladesh is already a major player in the global energy industry
due to its large prospective natural gas deposits. Energy hub status for
the country has already been assigned. Bangladesh has imposed various
regulations since the early 1990s to encourage the private industry to
prosper and encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the oil and
gas sector. This sector in Bangladesh has recently attracted several in-
ternational investors, and numerous International Oil Companies are
currently involved (Imam, 2005; Rahman et al., 2010). In the oil and
gas business, one of the most serious concerns is the possibility of a
gas blowout, which has the potential to harm not only the surround-
ing environment but also geological formations that contain natural gas
(Cao et al., 2018). During a "blowout," fluids such as water, gas, or oil
are forced to rise rapidly, violently, and uncontrollably from deep un-
derground to the surface, causing the drilling rig and accompanying
structures to explode and be destroyed. On three distinct occasions in
Bangladesh, the natural gas well blew up, including the Sylhet-1 gas
well blowout, the Moulvibazar-1 (Magurchara) gas well blowout, and
the Chattak-2 (Tengratila) gas well blowout (Imam, 2005). The tea plant
(Camellia sinensis) is among the world’s most important perennial crops.
Some upland tea fields have been in production for two or three decades
or more. It has a long-life cycle, although yields begin to decline after
two or three decades (Dang, 2002). Heavy metals in tea gardens and
plants constitute a major environmental problem. Soil excels at absorb-
ing both natural and anthropogenic contaminants (Chakrabarti et al.,
2004). In comparison to other types of contamination, soil heavy metal
contamination is chronic, complex, concealed, irreversible, emotional,
and dangerous. Once heavy metals penetrate the soil environment, they
can accumulate in agricultural products and endanger the health of in-
dividuals via food chains (Nejatolahi et al., 2014). All sorts of valuable
trees, herbs, and crops were destroyed, as it was a part of a nearby tea es-
tate, which affected tea production following the 1997 Magurchara gas
explosion (Siddiqui, 2001). Many statistical techniques, including sta-
tistical methodologies and geographic information systems (GIS), were
employed to examine the fluctuation of heavy metals (Wang et al., 2011;

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mohammad45@student.sust.edu (M.S. Alam), shetuakter-gee@sust.edu (S. Akter), shahnaj10-gee@sust.edu (S. Shemul),
tayabur.chowdhury@student.sust.edu (T.R. Chowdhury), sabrin-cee@sust.edu (S. Ara).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100127
Received 4 April 2022; Received in revised form 3 July 2022; Accepted 10 July 2022
2772-4166/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
Fig. 1. Map of the study area.
Yuan et al., 2010). Given the threat of gas blowout in the surrounding
environment, this study uses multivariate analysis, assessed soil contam-
ination factor, and spatial interpolation analysis to ascertain the current
state of the quality of the tea garden soil surrounding the Magurchara
gas well blowout.
1.1. Outline about the geography of the Study Area
The tea gardens in the Kamalganj union, near Magurchara burst,
were a consideration for the study (Fig. 1). Kamalganj union is located
between latitudes of 24°18′26.7" and 24°23′21.1" north and longitudes
of 91°46′29.5" and 91°51′53.3" east. In this place, the terrain is a little
uneven. Sreemangal Upazila is in the west, whereas Madhabpur Upazila
is located north of here. Phulbari Tea Estate is one of the largest tea
plantations in Bangladesh. A gas well blowout, on the other hand, can
severely impact tea plantation soil, reducing the productivity of the tea
plants.
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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127
2. Methodology
2.1. Soil Sampling and Laboratory Analysis
On June 9th, 2021, eight soil samples were taken from tea gardens
around the Magurchara gas well blowout. Samples were gathered from 0
to 0.2 m deep using a Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) corer. Handheld Global
Positioning System (GPS) was used to capture all the locations. Before
the sampling, the polyethylene bags were cleaned with a 10% HNO3
acid solution and distilled water. The study area had a large number
of tea gardens; thus, sampling locations were chosen for this reason. At
some sampling sites, samples were placed under the drip line of a tea
tree. It was carried out in clean, dust-free settings.
Cutting rings were used to assess BD, Time-Domain Reflectometer
100 (TDR) was used to assess SMC, and BD was used to assess SP.
K2 Cr2 O7 oxidation was used to find out the amount of SOM. The mate-
rial was heated in oil and treated by titration with 0.2 mol/L Fe2 SO4 to
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
determine its concentration. Meso Kelvin was used to find the TN con-
tent of the soil. With concentrated H2 SO4 and an accelerator, the sample
was cooled in a variable temperature furnace, then distilled, and with a
0.01 mol/L HCl standard solution, the distillate was determined by titra-
tion. Using a 1:5 soil-to-water solution, the pH of the soil was tested after
two hours of vigorous stirring.
Using appropriate cathode lamps, AAS was used to assess Fe, Cu,
and Zn concentrations. The solutions were filtered using Whatman no.
42 filtrate before being transferred to a conical flask for AAS analysis to
determine Ni, Pb, and Cd concentrations.
2.2. Data Analysis
Analysis of data is a strategy that includes research and data modifi-
cation and is used to gather required information, conclude, and assist
in the right decision-making process (Xia and Gong, 2014). The results
are discussed to make the essential judgments when the data has been
correctly compiled. A summary of the findings or a visual representa-
tion of them can be provided at the end. For future investigations on
tea garden soils, Cao et al. (2018) suggested using multivariate analy-
sis, geographical variability analysis, and an ecological risk assessment
technique. Geo-accumulation index and principal component analysis
were proposed by Wei et al. (2011) for evaluating soil heavy metal pol-
lution.
2.3. Multivariate Analysis
Using multivariate data analysis, it is possible to estimate the num-
ber of people, entities, or items from a sample. However, it can be used
for anything that involves speculation or conjecture (Morris, 1993). PCA
was used to highlight the diversity among variables and to determine
the extent to which heavy metal contamination has harmed the envi-
ronment. The PCA assessment was conducted using SPSS 23.
2.3.1. Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
From the original principal component, PCA seeks to create addi-
tional uncorrelated variables. For the greatest variance, new variables
are next to the headers. To capture the variety of data as compactly
as feasible, PCA gives a good approach to discovering such records
(Sârbu and Pop, 2005). In Eq. 1, the PC is expressed as,
𝑍𝑖𝑗 = 𝑎𝑖1 𝑥1𝑗 + 𝑎𝑖2 𝑥2𝑗 + 𝑎𝑖3 𝑥3𝑗 + … … … … + 𝑎𝑖𝑚 𝑥𝑚𝑗 (1)
The component score is "z" the component loading is "a" the sam-
ple number is "j" the measured value of the variable is "x" and the total
number of variables is "m." To calculate eigenvalues and eigenvectors,
a covariance or difference cross-product matrix can be used to outline
the scattering of the different intended parameters. The principal com-
ponents are equal to the initial factors and eigenvectors added together
directly (Wunderlin et al., 2001). This study used the rotation approach
to identify the principal component to explain data variance.
2.3.2. Cluster Analysis (CA)
CA is a combination of modeling techniques that assist in classifying
things under the features that are most fundamental to them (Alam et al.,
2021). It classifies things in such a way that each item in the cluster has
the same specified decision standard as the rest. CA aims to organize
data vectors into clusters while the true entities of the clusters are not
known (Wilks, 2011). In ungoverned machine learning, the most preva-
lent method is hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HCA). Beginning
with a singleton vertex, it combines the present pair of the frequently
nearby vertex into another vertex, until only one final vertex remains,
which contains the whole data set. An example is a dendrogram that
shows strong comparability between any sample and the full dataset
(McKenna, 2003). A dendrogram’s primary objective is to show the or-
dering of clusters resulting from similar investigations (Everitt, 1993).
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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127
Table 1
Five degrees of Igeo .
Igeo Class Soil Quality
Igeo ≤ 0 1 Uncontaminated
0 < Igeo < 1 2 Moderately contaminated
1 < Igeo < 3 3 Moderately to Strongly contaminated
3 < Igeo < 5 4 Strongly contaminated
5 < Igeo 5 Extremely contaminated
2.4. Geo-accumulation Index
The soil heavy metal pollution was analyzed by geo-accumulation
index (Igeo ). Muller (1979) proposed this equation as a quantitative mea-
sure of contamination intensity in aquatic sediments. Soil pollution can
also be evaluated using this method (Teng et al., 2002, Loska et al.,
2003). Equation no 2- is used to calculate Igeo .
[ ( )]
𝐼𝑔𝑒𝑜 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 𝐶𝑛 ∕ 1.5 × 𝐵𝑛 (2)
Cn signifies the level of heavy metal observed in soil samples from
the research region and Bn symbolizes the matching metal’s background
value.
1.5 compensates for lithogenic influences in the backdrop content.
As stated in table 1, the Igeo is divided into five degrees (Martin, 2000).
2.5. Contamination Factor
A contamination factor (Cf ) can be used to quantify hazardous com-
pound contamination. The following formula can be used to determine
the Cf .
𝐶𝑓 = 𝐶𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙 ∕𝐶𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 (3)
In which Cf means the contamination factor calculated for specific
metal content, Cmetal signifies the concentration of the element in every
individual soil sample and Cbackground is the background value of that
specific metal. When Cf < 1, it is considered as low Cf ; 1 ≤ Cf < 3 is
considered moderate Cf ; 3 ≤ Cf < 6 is referred to as considerable Cf , and
Cf ≥ 6 is rated as very high Cf (Hakanson, 1980).
2.6. Enrichment Factor
Metal Enrichment Factors (EF) are indicators for determining the
presence and degree of anthropogenic pollutant deposition on surface
soil (Barbieri, 2016). A standard metal concentration is used in the nor-
malizing procedure. Due to their abundant availability and lack of con-
tact with other contaminants, Fe and Al are by far the most used ref-
erence elements (Sutherland, 2000). The following equation was being
used to estimate the enrichment factor:
( ) ( )
𝐸𝐹 = 𝐶𝑛 ∕𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 ∕ 𝐶𝑛 ∕𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒
Here, Cn and Cref are the metal and reference element (Fe) concen-
trations, respectively. Soil samples and background, respectively, are
represented by sample and baseline. The element iron (Fe) was used
to normalize two sets of values derived from the sample’s Metal-Fe ra-
tio and the background (Tippie, 1984; Salah et al., 2012). EF < 2 is
considered as deficiently to minimal enrichment in soil; 2 ≤ EF < 5 is
considered as moderate enrichment in soil; 5 ≤ EF < 20 is referred to
significant enrichment in soil; 20 ≤ EF < 40 is rated as very high en-
richment in soil; EF > 40 indicates extremely high enrichment in soil
(Sutherland, 2000).
2.7. Potential ecological risk (RI) assessment
RI can be utilized to evaluate the quality of the soil environment.
This equation was used to estimate the expected RI (Yuan et al., 2017,
Hakanson, 1980).
∑ ∑
𝑅𝐼 = 𝐸𝑛𝑖 = 𝑇𝑟𝑖 × 𝐶𝑠𝑖 ∕𝐶𝑛𝑖
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127

Fig. 2. Boxplot of physical parameters (left), chemical parameters (right).

Fig. 3. Spatial Distribution of Chemical Properties in the study area.

Fig. 4. Boxplot of Heavy Metals.

4
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
Fig. 5. Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals in the study area.
where RI means the total potential ecological risk indices including all
heavy metals found; Er i signifies the potential ecological risk index of an
individual element; Cs i is the concentration of each element; Cn i is the
background value (mg·kg−1 ) of the element in A layer soil; and Tr i is the
toxicity response factor for each element, which expresses the harmful
levels and the environmental reaction (Zn = 1; Cu and Ni = 5; Cd = 30)
(Yuan et al., 2017, Hakanson, 1980).
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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127
Fig. 6. Scree plot of PCA.
3. Result and Discussion
3.1. Physico-chemical characteristics of soils around Magurchara gas field
For tea garden soils near the Magurchara gas field, major Physico-
chemical properties such as BD, SMC, SP, pH, SOM, and TN were as-
sessed. Fig. 2 represents the boxplot diagram of the physical and chemi-
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
Fig. 7. Cluster Analysis.
cal parameters of soil. Ping et al. (2014) assessed soil compactness based
on BD and the BD of all the soil samples is below 1 g/cm3 . The aver-
age BD of soil in the study area is 0.88 g/cm3 (Table 3) which does
not indicate an ideal soil condition for the proper growth of tea plants
as the ideal soil bulk density for high-yielding and high-quality tea gar-
dens should be ranged from 1.00 g/cm3 to 1.20 g/cm3 on the top and in
the core, it is ranged between 1.20 g/cm3 and 1.45 g/cm3 (Ping et al.,
2014). The average soil porosity in the study area is 72.21% (Table 3),
SP favorable for the cultivation of Guizhou kingbird tea was 48% to
56% (Zhang et al., 2013). Soils with porosity greater than 60% can be
excessively friable and may fail to maintain essential anchoring to tea
plants. Soils in the study area have very high porosity, which may lead
to the leaching of nutrients. Again, SMC around the blowout area was
determined to be between 12.5% and 18.28% which does not meet the
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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127
Fig. 8. Minimum, Maximum, and mean Igeo .
criteria of proper growth of a tea garden. The appropriate range for soil
moisture is 20% to 60% for the proper growth of plants.
In the area that was investigated, the pH of the soil ranges anywhere
from 4.4 to 6.6, with a mean value of 5.11 (Table 3). pH is relatively
higher, which means soils are less acidic in the tea gardens that are very
close to the blowout. Although tea plants can grow in soil with a pH as
low as 4.0, it is deemed undesirable without pH modification in the soil
with a pH only barely higher than 5.6. For commercial tea production,
soils with pH values of more than 6.5 are not suitable (Adhikary et al.,
2019). The fraction of the soil that comprises living organism tissue
in multiple levels of degradation is known as SOM. The presence of
more than 2% SOM suggests high-yielding and high-quality tea gardens
(Han et al., 2002). The soil organic matter in the tea garden ranged
between 1.5 and 11.95 with an average value of 3.98 (Table 3). This in-
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
dicates that most tea gardens around the blowout area can be classified
as rich soil that is good for growth and yield. Tea gardens can be af-
fected by the amount of total nitrogen in soils. Total nitrogen with more
than 0.1% indicates a high yield and good tea plant growth (Han et al.,
2002). Total nitrogen varied from 0.08% to 0.46% with an average of
0.19 (Table 3). This indicates a healthy amount of total nitrogen in the
soil for the proper growth of tea plants except in some areas.
Fig. 3 shows the variation of chemical properties in the study area.
The pH of tea garden soil close to the blowout is relatively high, while
the pH value is less in stations S1, S6, and S8 as these samples are posi-
tioned a little bit far away from the blowout. So, it indicates that the pH
value decreases with the distance from the blowout area. The following
figure shows most of the study area has less than 2% soil organic matter.
So, the area with the dark red zone is not suitable for tea plant growth
in terms of poor soil organic matter. Total nitrogen with less than 0.1%
in the soil is not a suitable condition for the growth of tea plants. The
dark red zone shows the zone where total nitrogen has less than 0.1%,
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Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127
Fig. 9. Minimum, Maximum, and mean Cf .
Fig. 10. Minimum, Maximum, and mean EF.
which means that the growth of tea plants will not be satisfactory in
these zones. (Fig. 4)
3.2. Geostatistical analysis
Fig. 5 depicts the spatial pattern of heavy metals near the Magur-
chara blowout in the Kamalganj union using the interpolation method.
Mahmoudabadi et al. (2015) studied the geographic distribution of
heavy metals in different land uses in Tehran. Kriging was found to be a
viable strategy in the investigation of soil properties and heavy metals
based on cross-validation results.
The Zn content indicated a consistent distribution across the entire
area, with a comparatively large enrichment near stations S1, S4, S7, and
S8. Cu and Pb concentrations were found to have opposing geograph-
ical patterns, with Cu concentrations increasing in the south, while Pb
concentrations decreasing in the south half of the study area. Heavy
metals are concentrated in the dark green zone on the map. Cd distribu-
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127

Fig. 11. Minimum, Maximum, and mean Er i .

Fig. 12. Potential Ecological Risk Index (RI).

tion showed an increasing trend from southwest to northeast, whereas Table 2

in most of the areas, the Ni distribution was uniform, with substantial Level of ecological risk.
enrichment. Er i RI Level of Ecological Risk

Er < 40
i
RI < 94 Low ecological risk
3.3. Statistical analysis of heavy metals in the tea garden around the
40 ≤ Er i ≤ 80 94 ≤ RI ≤ 188 Moderate ecological risk
Magurchara blowout 80 ≤ Er i ≤ 160 188 ≤ RI ≤ 376 Considerable ecological risk
Er i ≥ 160 RI ≥ 376 Very high ecological risk
3.3.1. Descriptive statistics
The fundamental statistical data of physicochemical characteristics
and heavy metals in tea garden soil are presented in Table 3. When com- the K-S test that Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb in tea garden soils exhibited typical
pared to the average value of the background, the mean concentrations distribution, but Ni showed aberrant distribution. The skewness which
of Zn, Cu, Ni, and Pb are all much lower, but the overall mean concentra- is related to the normal distribution corroborated this result since the
tion of Cd is substantially higher. In general, the coefficient of variation skewness value of Ni is smaller than -1 (Cao et al., 2018). The skewness
(CV) can be divided into three categories: CV < 10% indicates mild vari- of Cd is also less than -1, so the concentration of Cd is also skewed.
ability, 10% <CV <100% defines moderate variability, and CV>100%
denotes significant variability (Guo et al., 2018; Sinex & Wright, 1988). 3.3.2. Pearson Correlation analysis
The CV of heavy metals surrounding the Magurchara gas blowout exhib- The association between factors such as pH, soil organic matter, to-
ited moderate variability in order Cd > Ni > Cu > Pb > Zn, mostly due tal nitrogen, and heavy metals was assessed using Pearson correlation
to varied environmental circumstances and soil properties. Another test coefficients. Alam et al. (2021) carried out a correlation analysis to de-
called Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) normality test has been performed to termine the interrelationship between the affecting variables. They are
analyze the type of distribution (Cao et al., 2018). It is observed from useful to acknowledge the key determinants along with the origins of

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M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127

Table 3
SMC, SP, BD, SOM, TN, concentration of heavy metals (mg/kg) and background value (mg/kg).

Parameters SMC BD SP pH SOM TN Zn Cu Ni Cd Pb

Min 12.5 0.67 67.32 4.40 1.50 0.08 4.51 0.47 0.16 0.02 4.88
Max 26.2 1.07 74.45 6.60 11.95 0.48 6.83 0.96 2.17 0.14 8.13
Mean 21.77 0.88 72.28 5.11 3.97 0.18 5.74 0.72 1.68 0.09 6.27
Standard Deviation 5.09 0.12 2.33 0.81 3.58 0.13 0.77 0.19 0.71 0.05 1.15
C.V(%) 23.38 13.64 3.22 15.85 90.18 72.22 13.41 26.39 42.26 53.54 18.34
Skewness -1.09 -0.23 -1.55 1.34 1.99 2.04 -0.38 -0.02 -1.81 -1.08 0.49
K-S 0.04 0.2 0.2 0.01 0.05 0.05 0.20 0.20 0.02 0.20 0.20
Backgrou-nd Content (Liu, 1995) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 51.50 9.70 9.0 0.05 46.80
World Surface Rock Average (Martin and Meybeck, 1979). N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 127 32 49 0.2 16

N/A- Not Available.

Table 4
Pearson Correlation coefficients of heavy metals.

pH Soil Organic Matter Total Nitrogen Zn Cu Cd Ni Pb

pH 1 .
Soil Organic Matter .310 1
Total Nitrogen .337 .001 1
Zn .396 .239 .257 1
Cu .224 .050 .051 .477 1
Cd .314 .027 .022 .384 .024 1
Ni .456 .001 .001 .386 .060 .001 1
Pb .126 .314 .310 .498 .374 .335 .399 1

chemical substances since they give an excellent technique to highlight
the correlations between many variables (Li et al., 2013). A substantial
positive and negative linear correlation is indicated by values between
0.3 and 0.7 and -0.3 and -0.7 respectively (Ratner, 2013).
In this study, the pH had a moderate positive relationship with Ni,
Zn, and Cd implying that these heavy metals tend to aggregate as the pH
rises. Table 4 shows that Zn has a substantial positive correlation with
other heavy metals, with the largest correlations identified between the
elemental pairings Zn-Pb, and Zn-Cu. Pb-Cu, Pb-Cd Pb-Ni also had a
substantial positive association as well. These significant correlations
are implying similar sources and similar mechanisms of heavy metal
accumulation.
3.3.3. Principal component analysis (PCA)
PCA was used to figure out what factors were contributing to the
deterioration in the soil’s quality. It denotes the relationship between
variables and components. Two main factors with eigenvalues of more
than one were identified during PCA. Table 5 explains the key com-
ponents of tea garden soil whose eigenvalue is greater than 1. Factor
loadings have been classified as ‘strong’, ‘moderate,’ and ’weak’ based
on absolute loading levels of more than 0.75, 0.50–0.75, and 0.30–0.50,
respectively. (Liu et al., 2003). PCA value greater than one is regarded as
significant (Shrestha and Kazama, 2007). The rotation method was used
in this work to extract principal components to explain data variation.
Fig. 6 illustrates the scree plot of eigenvalue, and a rapid fall was noted
after reaching eigenvalue 1. In a scree plot, the amount of variation that
is captured by each primary component from the data is displayed.
In table 5, which illustrates PCs of tea garden soils, PC1 represents
50.304% of the total variance. In PC1, Cu, Cd, and Ni have high posi-
tive loadings among all the heavy metals examined in the study, hence
PC1 is strongly associated with Cu, Cd, and Ni, whereas Pb has lesser
than weak negative loadings. The second principal component (PC2)
is closely related to Zn which has high positive loadings and PC2 con-
tributed 20.678% of the overall variance.
PCA can be used to determine sources of contamination in multivari-
ate statistical analysis (Facchinelli et al., 2001). In PC1, Cu, Cd, and Ni
are positively related, this indicated that components are mostly pro-
duced from anthropogenic sources, such as agriculture, mining, atmo-
spheric deposition of combustion emissions, and other activities. Only
Zn has strong positive loadings in PC2 but showed weak negative load-
ings in PC1. This suggested that this element may be from a natural
source.
3.3.4. Cluster Analysis of Heavy metals
The similarity between the sampling sites was assessed using cluster
analysis. This strategy is best for demonstrating relationships among
variables (Le Maitre, 1982). Fig. 7 illustrates the dendrogram of CA
based on their tea garden soil quality. Clustering is used to look for
groups or clusters of similar samples. This dendrogram suggests that sta-
tion S3 and S5 are the most related objects as the height of the link that
unites them are the smallest. The following similar identical samples are
S4 and S6. Station S3, S4, S5, and S6 were quite close to the Magurchara
blowout, hence these samples are showing comparable characteristics
in cluster analysis. Station S1, S2, and S8 revealed comparable char-
acteristics, as they are positioned in the same cluster. But these three
samples do not show much similarity with other samples as the height
of the connection that unites them is the biggest. A substantial variance
among these samples may be detected in the dendrogram.
3.4. Assessment of soil heavy metals contamination
Igeo can evaluate the individual levels of pollution of different com-
ponents in soil. Fig. 8 shows that the Igeo ranges for heavy metals in all
samples taken were between 0 and 1. That means the soil of the tea gar-
den around the blowout is moderately contaminated. Cd has the highest
Igeo among all the heavy metals with 0.602 and Ni has the lowest with
0.004. The mean Igeo is shown in Fig. 8 Cd has the highest mean value
with 0.417 and Zn has the lowest mean value with 0.027. These heavy
metals may have gotten into the environment as a result of prior land
use, mining, and gas explosions, among other things.
Fig. 9 shows that the Cf value for Cd in most of the tea gardens
ranges between 1≤ Cf ≤ 3. This means the Cd in the tea garden soil
is moderately contaminated. The Cf value for Cd in some parts of the
tea garden is more than 3, which indicates a considerable amount of
contamination in soil. The Cf value for Cu, Zn, Ni, and Pb is less than
1, which means other heavy metals are low-contaminated in soil based
on the contamination factor. Higher Cf values show that anthropogenic
contaminants play a greater role, whereas lower Cf values highlight the
geological distribution of components in the soil, i.e., degradation of
bedrock (Kabata-Pendias, 2000). High Cf values of Cd in soil may be

9
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 (2022) 100127

Fig. 13. Potential Ecological Risk Indices (RI)

of the Study Area.

attributable to fertilizer use in tea gardens and earlier gas well blowouts, Table 5
but low Cf values of other examined heavy metals may be attributable PCA of heavy metals.
to geological processes. Parameters PC1 PC2
Fig 10 indicates that Zn, Cu, and Ni have minimal enrichment in
Zn 0.015 0.992
the soil as the EF value is less than 2. The study area is abundant with
Cu 0.832 -0.039
Cd and Pb. Moderate and significant enrichment was reported for Cd in Cd 0.964 0.106
tea garden soils around Magurchara blowout. The maximum EF factor Ni 0.910 -0.162
for Cd is 23.32, which indicates a high enrichment of Cd in soil. In this Pb -0.257 -0.103
Eigenvalue 2.515 1.034
study, Pb has the highest EF value 25.82, which is very close to the
Cumulative Variance (%) 50.304 70.981
blowout. Significant enrichment was found in most tea garden soils for Total Variance (%) 50.304 20.678
Pb which has high enrichment in soil. It is also observed from the figure
that Cu has the lowest enrichment in tea garden soil as the mean EF of
Cu is 0.73 which is lower than other heavy metals.
considerable ecological risk as the value is between 40-80, and 80-160
3.5. Potential ecological risk assessment of tea garden soils respectively. Cao et al. (2018) carried out a study in southeast China to
assess the tea garden soils, in which Cd reached the level of moderate
Potential ecological risk assessments were created to measure con- ecological risk. Fig 11 shows the Er i of individual heavy metals, and it
temporaneous pollution levels as well as the environment’s response to is evident that Cd in tea garden soil is a major threat to ecology.
pollution. Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 represent the ecological risk and risk in- From the RI value (Fig. 12), it is observed that all the soil samples
dex, respectively. In this figure, it is observed that all the heavy metals are of a low degree of ecological risk as the RI value is ranged less than
except Cd have low ecological risk as the value of Er i is less than 40. Er i 94 (Table 2). But in stations S7 and S8, the RI value is very close to 94.
of Cd showed some variation. The Er i value of Cd in some areas shows So, it can be said that soils in stations S7 and S8 are close to a moderate
low ecological risk, while in most of the areas Er i shows moderate and degree of ecological risk. The high-risk index value means more towards

10
M.S. Alam, S. Akter, S. Shemul et al.
the ecological risk. Fig. 13 shows the spatial pattern of the ecological risk
index around the Magurchara gas blowout area. The dark green zones
are the ones that are close to the value of moderate risk to ecology. This
indicated that the southwest part of the study area is a threat to ecology
as the RI value is much higher. This may also impact the growth of tea
plants.
4. Conclusions
This investigation has shown that the tea garden soil around Magur-
chara blowout is not very appropriate for the cultivation of tea plants.
The physical and chemical qualities of soil do not reach the norm of
high-yielding and high-quality tea gardens. Moreover, the study has in-
dicated that heavy metal contamination of soil is a matter of environ-
mental concern. Among all the heavy metals examined in this study, Cd
in the soil is a serious concern for the tea garden. The concentration
of Cd demonstrates moderate to substantial contamination in the study
area. The Er i of heavy metals decreased as follows: Cd > Pb > Cu > Ni >
Zn, with Cd contamination levels ranging from moderate to severe eco-
logical damage, indicating that soil quality improvement is necessary.
The integrated Risk Index (RI) suggests that the tea garden soils near
the blowout are extremely close to the moderate ecological risk. Thus,
from these data, it can be stated that the impact of a blowout is still
apparent in the tea garden soil. Modern treatment technology should be
purchased by competent authorities to mitigate the soil quality degra-
dation of the tea garden near the blowout.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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