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Major inputs and mobility of potentially toxic elements contamination in urban areas

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Abstract

Soil quality in urban areas is affected by anthropogenic activities, posing a risk to human health and ecosystems. Since the pseudo-total concentrations of potentially toxic elements may not reflect their potential risks, the study of element mobility is very important on a risk assessment basis. This study aims at characterising the distribution and major sources of 34 elements in two Portuguese urban areas (Lisbon and Viseu), with different geological characteristics, industrial and urban development processes. Furthermore, the potential availability of As, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn was assessed, by measuring the fraction easily mobilised. Lisbon is enriched in elements of geogenic and anthropogenic origin, whereas in the smaller city, the high levels observed are mainly related to a geogenic origin. Background values can be more relevant than the dimension of the city, even when anthropogenic components may be present, and this parameter should be considered when comparing results from different cities. Regarding the potential available fraction, a high variability of results was observed for elements and for sampling sites with an influence of the soil’s general characteristics. Elements showing very high concentrations due to geological reasons presented, in general, a low mobility and it was not dependent on the degree of contamination. For elements with major anthropogenic origin, only Zn was dependent on the pseudo-total content. Yet, the highest available fractions of some elements, both with major geogenic and anthropogenic origin, were observed in specific contaminated samples. Therefore, a site-specific evaluation in urban soils is important due to the high spatial variability and heterogeneity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by CESAM and by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the research project POCTI/CTA/44851/2002:SOLURB (‘Towards a methodology for the assessment of environmental quality in urban soils’) and individual research grants attributed to A. Cachada (SFRH/BD/38418/2007), P. Pato (SFRH/BPD/35068/2007), C. Mieiro (SFRH/BD/28733/2006) and T. Rocha-Santos (SFRH/BPD/65410/2009). The authors wish to thank Pedro Faria for the English revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESAM & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    A. Cachada, P. Pato, C. Mieiro, T. Rocha-Santos, M. E. Pereira & A. C. Duarte

  2. GeoBioTec-GeoBioSciences, Geotechnologies and Geoengineering Research Center, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    A. C. Dias & E. Ferreira da Silva

  3. ISEIT/Viseu, Instituto Piaget, Estrada do Alto do Gaio, Galifonge, 3515-776, Lordosa, Viseu, Portugal

    T. Rocha-Santos

  4. School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Avenida do Atlântico, 4900-348, Viana do Castelo, Portugal

    P. Pato

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  1. A. Cachada
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  2. A. C. Dias
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  3. P. Pato
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  4. C. Mieiro
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  5. T. Rocha-Santos
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  6. M. E. Pereira
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  7. E. Ferreira da Silva
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  8. A. C. Duarte
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Correspondence to A. Cachada.

Electronic supplementary material

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Table S1

Descriptive statistics of PTE concentrations in Lisbon and Viseu urban soils (DOC 127 kb)

Table S2

Significance level of Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (K-S p) and Shapiro–Wilk’s test for normality (S-W p), skewness, kurtosis and outlier number of the raw, log-transformed and Box-Cox transformed data of PTEs (DOC 175 kb)

Table S3

Spearman correlations between PTEs in Lisbon (dark grey) and Viseu (light grey) urban soils (DOC 140 kb)

Table S4

Spearman correlations between soils general parameters and PTE in Lisbon urban soils (DOC 69 kb)

Table S5

Spearman correlations between soil general parameters and PTE in Viseu urban soils (DOC 45 kb)

Table S6

Concentrations (in milligrams per kilogram) of the pseudo-total (AR) content, the HOAc extraction and available fraction (%Av) for the selected samples and elements (DOC 106 kb)

Table S7

Spearman correlations between fraction available and general parameters, in Lisbon soils (DOC 37 kb)

Table S8

Spearman correlations between fraction available and general parameters, in Viseu soils (DOC 33 kb)

Table S9

Spearman correlations between the pseudo-total content (AR) and available fraction (Av) (DOC 33 kb)

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Cachada, A., Dias, A.C., Pato, P. et al. Major inputs and mobility of potentially toxic elements contamination in urban areas. Environ Monit Assess 185, 279–294 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2553-9

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