## 2 Materials and Methods
### Eco-Environmental Risk Assessment  
Eco-environmental risks were assessed using geostatistical indices to determine the degree and cause (e.g., anthropogenic or geogenic) of heavy metals contamination (Table 2). Indices like the degree of contamination (DC), contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF), pollution load index (PLI), geo-accumulation index (I\({}_{\text{geo}}\)), pollution ecological risk index (PERI), and potential contamination index (PCI) were estimated using recommended methods [34; 39; 63]. In India, region-specific background heavy metals composition values are not available for the studied regions; therefore, relevant values provided by [PERSON] [61] were used to evaluate the indices followed by interpretation. Figure 2: (**A**) Simplified geological (based on [PERSON] [76; 77; 78; 79]) and (**B**) soil sketch of the studied area, based on FAO [75]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Concentration in**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**1501-2000 m**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**1501-2000 m**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**2001-2500 m**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**2500 m**} \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Element (mg/kg)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Cruß (B) mg/kg**} & & & & \\ \hline Sodium (Na) & 28,900 & 3400 \(\pm\) 297 & 1746 \(\pm\) 695 & 2578 \(\pm\) 1443 & 2614 \(\pm\) 601 & 1767 \(\pm\) 736 \\ Magnesium (Mg) & 13,300 & 9780 \(\pm\) 1018 & 5600 \(\pm\) 1344 & 8141 \(\pm\) 3768 & 8036 \(\pm\) 2770 & 8230 \(\pm\) 2402 \\ Aluminum (Al) & 80,400 & 59,850 \(\pm\) 4596 & 62,181 \(\pm\) 8452 & 68,326 \(\pm\) 8116 & 65,887 \(\pm\) 7617 & 61,367 \(\pm\) 3099 \\ Silicon (Si) & 308,000 & 228,000 \(\pm\) 2828 & 214,647 \(\pm\) 27,390 & 205,894 \(\pm\) 27,718 & 196,787 \(\pm\) 28,175 & 213,666 \(\pm\) 20,502 \\ Phosphorus (P) & 700 & 882 \(\pm\) 157 & 790 \(\pm\) 345 & 974 \(\pm\) 515 & 1442 \(\pm\) 885 & 8912 \(\pm\) 89 \\ Sulfur (S) & 500 & 293 \(\pm\) 57 & 337 \(\pm\) 140 & 426 \(\pm\) 186 & 667 \(\pm\) 313 & 406 \(\pm\) 55 \\ Potassium (K) & 28,000 & 25,350 \(\pm\) 5300 & 25,819 \(\pm\) 6088 & 26,974 \(\pm\) 6739 & 23,525 \(\pm\) 4364 & 19,467 \(\pm\) 4196 \\ Calcium (Ca) & 30,000 & 7765 \(\pm\) 8676 & 10,860 \(\pm\) 16,511 & 8621 \(\pm\) 8314 & 11,051 \(\pm\) 676 & 5703 \(\pm\) 3854 \\ Chromium (Cr) & 35 & 173 \(\pm\) 16 & 180 \(\pm\) 34 & 171 \(\pm\) 53 & 198 \(\pm\) 34 & 201 \(\pm\) 16 \\ Manganese (Mn) & 600 & 1342 \(\pm\) 1100 & 923 \(\pm\) 318 & 965 \(\pm\) 663 & 2069 \(\pm\) 2211 & 1087 \(\pm\) 643 \\ Iron (Fe) & 35,000 & 67,350 \(\pm\) 6717 & 54,233 \(\pm\) 16,734 & 62,716 \(\pm\) 25,69 & 67,181 \(\pm\) 22,068 & 55,633 \(\pm\) 13,250 \\ Nickel (Ni) & 20 & 99 \(\pm\) 22 & 106 \(\pm\) 37 & 104 \(\pm\) 31 & 128 \(\pm\) 23 & 112 \(\pm\) 6 \\ Copper (Cu) & 25 & 179 \(\pm\) 55 & 155 \(\pm\) 39 & 162 \(\pm\) 73 & 152 \(\pm\) 31 & 133 \(\pm\) 18 \\ Zinc (Zn) & 71 & 143 \(\pm\) 15 & 156 \(\pm\) 46 & 153 \(\pm\) 55 & 197 \(\pm\) 62 & 172 \(\pm\) 28 \\ Rubidium (Rb) & 112 & 564 \(\pm\) 300 & 729 \(\pm\) 390 & 956 \(\pm\) 1038 & 592 \(\pm\) 266 & 464 \(\pm\) 246 \\ Strontium (Si) & 350 & 319 \(\pm\) 39 & 215 \(\pm\) 89 & 235 \(\pm\) 79 & 353 \(\pm\) 85 & 250 \(\pm\) 107 \\ \hline No, of samples collected & & 6 & 88 & 51 & 45 & 8 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Chemical elements concentration of soil (mean \(\pm\) SD) vs. altitudes.