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Evaluating natural and anthropogenic inputs on the distribution of potentially toxic elements in urban soil of Valdivia, Chile

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Abstract

The increasing population in urban areas in the last decades requires an effort to understand the geochemistry of contaminant elements in urban soil. Topsoil plays a crucial role in the exposure of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) to humans through ingestion, dermal contact, and inhalation. In Chile, the last census revealed that 88.6% of people live in cities or towns and only 11.4% in rural areas. This study presents the first systematic geochemical survey of urban soil in the city of Valdivia, in the South of Chile. Topsoil samples (0–10 cm depth) were collected in less disturbed locations within the city at 130 sampling sites using a grid of 0.25 km2 squares covering a total area of approximately 30 km2. The concentrations of Al, Fe, Na, Ca, Mg, K, Ti, Be, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Sn, Cd, Se, Pb and Hg were measured. The results showed that high concentrations of Cu, V, Zn and Pb are located mainly in the city’s northern area and exceed international soil quality legislation for agricultural use. Data processing comprised plotting of individual spatial distribution maps and the use of a combination of multivariate statistical methods. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis identified three element associations. The two element groups V–Al–Ti–Fe–Cr–Co–Mn–Be–Ni and Ca–Na–K–As–Mg are interpreted as a dominant lithological origin related to the most pristine soil conditions in less populated areas. By contrast, the Sn–Pb–Zn–Mo–(Cu–Hg) association presents a significant correlation with urbanization indicators, including vehicular traffic and industrial activities developed since the end of the nineteenth century in Valdivia.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was partially funded by an academic grant provided by the Universidad Austral de Chile to Daniele Tardani. Additional funding was provided by the projects ANID-Fondecyt #1201219, ANID-Fondecyt #11220777, ANID-Fondecyt #11190864 and ANID-FONDAP #15130015 (CRHIAM). VT thanks to the UFRO Postdoc Grant VRIP20P001. We are grateful to Alecos Demetriades and another anonymous reviewer whose criticisms and suggestions helped to improve this manuscript significantly. The Associate Editor Efstratios Kelepertzis is also thanked for editorial handling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad de O’Higgins, Rancagua, Chile

    Daniele Tardani & Domingo Jullian

  2. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    Francisca Vera, Carolina Sepúlveda & Pablo Sánchez-Alfaro

  3. Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Fernanda Álvarez-Amado

  4. Water Research Center for Agriculture and Mining – CRHIAM, FONDAP ANID Center, Concepción, Chile

    Fernanda Álvarez-Amado & Leopoldo Gutiérrez

  5. Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile

    Violeta Tolorza

  6. Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Dirección Regional de Los Ríos, Valdivia, Chile

    Juan Pablo Lacassie

  7. Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Linda Daniele

  8. Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Leopoldo Gutiérrez

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  1. Daniele Tardani
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Contributions

DT contributed to conceptualization, resources, funding acquisition, project administration, methodology, validation, investigation, writing—original draft, and supervision; FV contributed to fieldwork, conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, investigation, supervision and figures preparation. FÁ-A contributed to conceptualization, writing—review and editing; VT contributed to resources, writing—review and editing. DJ contributed to writing—review and editing. JPL contributed to validation, writing—review and editing. CS contributed to fieldwork and methodology. PS-A contributed to resources, writing—review and editing. LD contributed to validation, writing—review and editing. LG contributed to resources, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Francisca Vera.

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Tardani, D., Vera, F., Álvarez-Amado, F. et al. Evaluating natural and anthropogenic inputs on the distribution of potentially toxic elements in urban soil of Valdivia, Chile. Environ Geochem Health 45, 7841–7859 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01687-5

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