Relationships of heavy metals content in soil and watershed of specific rivers in northern part of Miyagi in Japan

Concentrations of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, As) were measured in soils and host rocks collected in two watersheds, Hazama River and Kitakami River, which are in the northern part of Miyagi prefecture in Japan. The distribution of heavy metals was affected by watershed and element ratio of heavy metals, which indicates a unique trend for each river.Thewater soluble heavy metalswere rich in lowland soil and peat rich soils distributed in downstream of Hazama river basin. Some of the mining spots are distributed in the upstream portion of this river and contents of Cu, Zn and Pb in soils were higher than in most of basement rocks. Only arsenic contents in soils are at the same level as that in basement rocks except for the mine-soils in the upstream part.