Abstract
The pollution of heavy metals (HMs) in agricultural soils profoundly threatens national food safety, and the mobility and environmental behaviors of HMs are closely implicated in crop safety. Here, we assessed the pollution level and mobility of ten HMs and explored their environmental behaviors in the soils of three different land uses from a main crop production zone in eastern China. The concentrations of HMs in the soils were higher in the farmland than the woodland and wasteland, and Cd showed a relatively higher pollution and ecological risk levels compared to other metals. Cadmium was dominated by the reducible (41%) and exchangeable (23%) fractions, and the rest of HMs were mainly in the residual fraction (> 60%). The significant correlation between the exchangeable and DGT-labile Cd indicates relatively higher mobility of Cd in the soils. Soil pH, organic matters and mineral elements had significant correlation with the exchangeable and reducible fractions of most of the HMs (e.g., Cd, Co, Mn, Ni, Pb and V; p < 0.05), indicating their good predictors of the HMs mobility. However, this was not the case for the DGT-labile fraction, which suggests a marked difference in the controlling mechanisms of the mobility versus potential bioavailability of HMs in the soils. The results of this study indicate that both the chemically extracted fractions and the bioavailable fractions of HMs need be considered when effectively assessing the safety of agricultural soils.
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Data availability
The datasets used in the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. Bing Jiang, Ms. Jin Wang and Ms. Xuan Ma for the assistant of the field investigation and sample collection.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42177385).
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JZ analyzed the data and wrote initial manuscript; LYY participated in data analysis, supervised the research, and edited and reviewed the final version; YL participated in data analysis and joined the discussion; MHX participated in field investigation and developed the methodologies; YHW participated in data analysis and reviewed the final version; HJB developed the core idea, supervised the research, participated in data analysis and writing, edited and reviewed the final version.
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Zhang, J., Yang, L., Liu, Y. et al. Pollution and mobility of heavy metals in the soils of a typical agricultural zone in eastern China. Environ Geochem Health 46, 91 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01887-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01887-7