Abstract
Coal-fired power plants (CPP) usually release massive numerous amounts of potentially toxic metal(loid)s (PTMs) into nearby ecosystems. There have been relatively few studies targeted on the ecological influences of PTMs related to the CPP in arid area. In this work, the distribution pattern, source apportionment and environmental risks of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb and a couple of seldom monitored PTMs (Se, Zn, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn and Ni) in the soils near a coal electricity integration base were investigated in Hami, a city in northwestern China. Nemerow synthesis pollution index, geo-accumulation index and ecological risk index were used to assess pollution state of these PTMs in soils, and ordinary Kriging interpolation was used to analyze the spatial distribution for these elements. Methods of CA, PCA, CA and PAM were carried out for quantitative source analysis. The research outcome includes: (1) the contents of individual PTMs in most samples were greater than the background values, the pollution degrees of Se, Pb, Hg, Cd and As were significant, and some areas exceeded the warning threshold value; (2) the main sources of these PTMs were natural sources (35%), coal mine sewage (11%), atmospheric release during coal combustion (21%), dust generated from coal and combustion products (33%); (3) attention should be paid to the open-pit coal mines, shaft coal mines and ash dumps where the contents of metal elements were significantly polluted; and (4) wind is the main driving forces of PTMs migration in arid areas.
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The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Project of the China Geological Survey (12120115041301) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42207456, U21A2023).
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This research was funded by the Project of the China Geological Survey (12120115041301) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42207456, U21A2023).
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YJ was involved in investigation, data analysis and writing–original draft. XY was involved in conceptualization, methodology and writing–review and editing. XY was involved in conceptualization, supervision and writing–review and editing. WD was involved in investigation and data curation. HH was involved in investigation, data curation and funding acquisition. JC was involved in writing–review and editing and resources. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Jia, Y., Yang, X., Yan, X. et al. Accumulation, potential risk and source identification of toxic metal elements in soil: a case study of a coal-fired power plant in Western China. Environ Geochem Health 45, 7389–7404 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01661-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01661-1