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Spatial variability and source analysis of typical soil trace elements at permafrost section along national highway 214 in the eastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

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Abstract

This paper attempts to reveal the enrichment status, spatial characteristics and material sources of typical soil trace elements at permafrost section along National Highway 214 on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Therefore, the samples of typical trace elements in surface soil, being located at the northern slope of Bayan Kara Mountains, were collected and tested. The concentrations of typical trace elements in soil were analysed by mathematical statistics, spatial analysis and ecological assessment. The results show that: (1) the concentrations of As, Cd and Hg in the soil are higher than the local background values, and their degrees of variation were high. There was a certain degree of accumulation. Soil As and Hg elements constitute “slight pollution”, indicating there is a none-to-slight ecological hazard. (2) The distributions of soil As, Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations are lower near the highway and increase with distance from it and then become relatively low further away. The distributions of Cr, Cu, Hg and Ni concentrations show no obvious trends in any direction. (3) The spatial heterogeneity of typical trace elements in soil is affected by soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), pH, slope curvature and aspect. At the local scale, soil texture and topography were the main affecting factors. Concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were mainly affected by natural factors, while those of As and Hg were affected by both natural and human factors.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions that helped improve this paper.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41971093).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Wei Cao, Yu Sheng, Jichun Wu & Erxing Peng

  2. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Exogenic Mineralization and Mine Environment, Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chongqing, 401120, China

    Runxia Gao & Minyu Zhou

Authors
  1. Wei Cao
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  2. Yu Sheng
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  3. Jichun Wu
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  4. Erxing Peng
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  5. Runxia Gao
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  6. Minyu Zhou
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Contributions

CW was involved in the methodology, software, writing–original draft preparation, writing–reviewing and editing; SY contributed to the conceptualization and supervision; WJ helped in the visualization and investigation; PE was involved in the data curation and data collection; GR contributed to the data collection; ZM contributed to the data collection.

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Correspondence to Wei Cao.

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Cao, W., Sheng, Y., Wu, J. et al. Spatial variability and source analysis of typical soil trace elements at permafrost section along national highway 214 in the eastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Environ Geochem Health 45, 1819–1840 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-022-01299-5

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