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Risk assessment and source identification of heavy metals in agricultural soil: a case study in the coastal city of Zhejiang Province, China

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Abstract

Heavy metal contamination is a serious environmental problem, especially in developing countries such as China. In this study, we collected 1928 soil samples from the southeastern coastal area of China and analyzed the pollution concentration and potential ecological risk from heavy metals including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg). The mean concentrations of Cr, Hg, and Pb were lower than their corresponding background values, whereas As and Cd were 1.31 and 1.59 times their background values, respectively. The calculation of the mean Pollution Index (PI) for these heavy metals were, in decreasing order Cd (1.59), As (1.31), Cr (0.94), Pb (0.89), and Hg (0.78) and the Nemerow Integrated Pollution Index revealed that almost one-fifth of the soil in the study area was moderately polluted. According to the ecological risk index, about 12% of the soil was at a moderate or high ecological risk, and Cd and Hg presented the highest ecological risk. The GeogDetector software was used to quantitatively assess the potential sources of these metals. The GeogDetector results showed that the soil heavy metals have various sources, including: natural processes had significant impacts on all heavy metals analyzed in this study; farmland types influenced the concentrations of As and Cr significantly; industrial activities significantly increased As, Cr, and Hg; transportation-related activities increased As, Cd, and Hg; and agricultural application of fertilizer and pesticides, had significant impacts on As, Cd, and Pb levels. Based on the results of the interaction detector, natural processes and agricultural activities were determined to be the main sources of heavy metals in the study area.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the National Key R&D Program (2018YFD0200500 and 2017YFD0200600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41801302). They have no role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 198 Shiqiao Road, Hangzhou, 310021, Zhejiang, China

    Zhouqiao Ren, Xiaonan Lv & Xufeng Fei

  2. Key Laboratory of Information Traceability of Agriculture Products, Minstry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China

    Zhouqiao Ren, Xiaonan Lv & Xufeng Fei

  3. School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Rui Xiao

  4. Institute of Urban Studies, School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, China

    Zhonghao Zhang

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  1. Zhouqiao Ren
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Ren, Z., Xiao, R., Zhang, Z. et al. Risk assessment and source identification of heavy metals in agricultural soil: a case study in the coastal city of Zhejiang Province, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 33, 2109–2118 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-019-01741-8

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