ORIGINAL PAPER Heavy metal transport and fate in soil-plant system: study case of industrial cement vicinity, Tunisia Ines Terwayet Bayouli 1 & Beatriz Gómez-Gómez 2 & Houssem Terwayet Bayouli 3 & Teresa Pérez-Corona 2 & Erik Meers 4 & Emna Ammar 5 & Ali Ferchichi 3 & Yolanda Madrid Albarrán 2 Received: 4 September 2018 /Accepted: 11 October 2019 /Published online: 10 January 2020 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020 Abstract During the last decades, Southeastern Tunisia has suffered from an industrial expansion leading to a serious pollution problem. In this work, heavy metal contamination near Gabes cement plant (Southeastern Tunisia) was assessed in the soils and statistically compared with a control site located 12 km away. Soil samples were collected from 5 to 15 cm below the surface layer. Concentrations of Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Fe and chemical parameters (conductivity, pH, CaCO 3 , OM) were measured. The variance analysis exhibited a significant difference (p < 0.05) in metal content between the two sites reflecting the cement plant contamination effect on the surrounding area. Eleven plant species widely distributed in the study area were collected together with the soil in which they were rooted, to assess their phytoextraction potential. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to understand the complex connection between soil, plants, and heavy metal contents. Lygeum spartum with respective total bioaccumulation factor (MBF = 1.48 ˃ 1 and Echiochilon fruticosum with a total translocation factor (MTF = 7.06) ˃ 1 were revealed as pertinent candidates for phytoremediation applications. Keywords Topsoils . Cement plant pollution . Heavy metals . Plant species . Bioaccumulation factor . Phytoremediation Introduction Industrialization, extensive urbanization. and mining have been stated among the main soil contamination causes which have a negative impact on the environment quality (Yaylali-Abanuz 2011). In the recent years, in both developed and developing countries, soil contamination was revealed as an important envi- ronmental issue (Yaylali-Abanuz 2011; Esmaeli et al. 2014). It is mainly referred to the anthropogenic origin where industrial ac- tivities are the major generator of pollutants (Kowalska et al. 2016). The pollutants released by the industry damage ecosys- tems wherein the biotic components are also altered and shattered (Trasande et al. 2016; Wu et al. 2016). Among the industrial activities, cement plants are considered as an important dust and heavy metal emitters such as Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, and Zn (Al- Kashman and Shawabkeh 2006, Dewald and Achternbosch 2016, Isikli et al. 2006, Ogunkunle and Fatoba 2014). These elements, along with many other organic compounds, are re- leased during cement manufacturing through many processes such as clinkerization where the clinker is the product of lime- stone and clay heating and also combustion (Zemba et al. 2011). Heavy metals have a massive scientific interest due to their direct impact on the environment, affecting the air, water and soil qual- ity and consequently human beings through the food chain (Adriano 2001; Bermudez et al. 2010; Qureshi et al. 2016; Ogundiran and Osibango 2008). Despite being displayed at low concentration, heavy metals are persistent in the environment since they have been resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes (Al- Responsible Editor: Abdullah M. Al-Amri * Ines Terwayet Bayouli Bayouli_ines@yahoo.fr 1 Arid Regions Institute, Tunisia, University of Gabes, Road al Jorf, 22.5 km, 4119 Medenine, Tunisia 2 Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, Av. Complutense, s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain 3 National Agronomic Institute of Tunis, 43 Avenue Charles Nicolle, 1082 Tunis, Tunisia 4 Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium 5 RU Coastal and Urbans Environments, National Engineering School of Sfax, BP 1173, University of Sfax, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia Arabian Journal of Geosciences (2020) 13: 75 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-019-4898-7