Quantitative geospatial dataset on the near-surface heavy metal concentrations in semi-arid soils from Maibele Airstrip North, Central Botswana

This article contains a statistically analyzed dataset of the heavy metals including Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb contents of near-surface (~30 cm depth) soils in a Cu–Ni prospecting field at Airstrip North, Central Botswana. The soils developed on paragneisses and amphibolites parent materials in a semi-arid environment with hardveld vegetation, “The geology of the Topisi area” (Key et al., 1994) [1]. Grid sampling was adopted in the field data collection. Heavy metals were determined using the relatively new portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (Delta Premium, 510,890, USA) technology in a “soil” mode. The data presented was obtained from the average reading of two soil samples collected from same point but passed through sieves.