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Distribution and sources of mercury in soils from former industrialized urban areas of Beijing, China

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Abstract

Fifty-seven typical surface soils and 108 deeper soils were collected from five former industrial sites in Beijing and concentrations of total Hg (ΣHg) as well as pH, total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total sulfur, and dissolved organic carbon concentrations determined. The mean concentration of ΣHg in surface soils was significantly greater than background concentrations in the vicinity of Beijing. Forty-eight percent of the samples exceeded the “critical” concentration of 1.0 mg Hg/kg, dry weight in soils, which has been established by the Chinese government. At depths of 0–80 cm in the soil, profile concentrations of ΣHg also exceeded the background value. There were significant correlations between concentrations of ΣHg, TC, and TN in the industrial soils. The greater concentration of ΣHg in most soils could have been due in part to combustion of coal and leakage from industrial processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Wei Luo, Yonglong Lu, Bin Wang, Guang Wang, Yajuan Shi & Tieyu Wang

  2. College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaojuan Tong

  3. Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    John P. Giesy

  4. Zoology Department, National Food Safety and Toxicology Center and Center for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    John P. Giesy

  5. Centre for Coastal Pollution and Conservation, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

    John P. Giesy

  6. Environmental Science Program, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    John P. Giesy

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  1. Wei Luo
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  2. Yonglong Lu
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  3. Bin Wang
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  4. Xiaojuan Tong
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  5. Guang Wang
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  6. Yajuan Shi
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  7. Tieyu Wang
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  8. John P. Giesy
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Correspondence to Yonglong Lu.

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Luo, W., Lu, Y., Wang, B. et al. Distribution and sources of mercury in soils from former industrialized urban areas of Beijing, China. Environ Monit Assess 158, 507–517 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0600-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0600-3

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