Peshawar basin is situated at the southern footh1l\s of the lesser Himalayas in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan It IS mainly composed of the Quaternary fluvial and lacustnne sediments. The SOil of the basin has been classified Into Peshawar piedmont soil, Peshawar floodplain soil and Peshawar lacustrine soil. These SOils of have been evaluated for major, minor, trace and heavy metals The chemical analyses of these soils shov-ed that the concentration of SIO" TiO" Fe,03 and MnO are III the range of normal soil. However, AI,03. MgO, ('aO, Na,O, K,O and P,O, and all the analyzed trace and heavy metals, except Co, were higher than the limits reported for normal soil. The soils of certain areas of the Peshawar piedmont and the Peshawar tloodplain had trace and heavy metals in very high concentratIOns and should be further investigated for thell effects on the ecosystem The high concentratIOns of CaO, NaO and K,O In these soils could be attributed to the water-logging and salinity in the area while l11gh MgO, Cu, NI and ('I' could be correlated With the rocks of the Dargai ultramafic complex and the high P,O, could be either contnbuted by alkaline rocks or fertilizers or both
Muhammad Tahir Shah ,SHAHINA TARIQ ,