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Distinguishing anthropogenic and natural sources of trace elements in soils undergoing recent 10-year rapid urbanization: a case of Donggang, Eastern China

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Abstract

A total of 59 samples consisting of 45 topsoils samples and 14 subsoils samples were collected from urban soils of Donggang and were analyzed for soil properties and 12 trace elements. The mean contents of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, V, and Zn in topsoils were 5.76, 0.20, 9.88, 44.82, 17.69, 0.05, 578.96, 19.98, 28.38, 0.21, 58.88, and 58.32 mg kg−1, respectively. The mean enrichment factor results suggested that Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Se, and Zn were enriched in topsoils compared with subsoils. Spatial distribution maps of trace elements indicated that Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Se, and Zn had similar patterns, with the highest values in the industrial region. There were no significant associations displayed between spatial distributions of As, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, and V and the industrial region. Through correlation analysis, stepwise regression analysis, and redundancy analysis, three main sources of 12 trace elements were identified. Cd, Hg, and Se originated from industrial emissions and coal combustion, and As, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, and V had a lithogenic origin. The combination of human activities and natural sources contributed to the contents of Cu, Pb, and Zn, and the human activities included industrial and traffic emissions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was jointly funded by China State-Sponsored Postgraduate Study Abroad Program (No. 201306190053), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41101079), and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. Y2008E13), the Program B for Outstanding PhD Candidate of Nanjing University (No. 2014001B008), and the Program for Graduate Student’s Research Innovation of Jiangsu Province (CXLX13-051). We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Coast and Island Development of Ministry of Education, School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Jianshu Lv, Rujia Zhou & Yuchi Zhu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yang Liu

  3. College of Population, Resource and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, China

    Jianshu Lv & Zulu Zhang

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  1. Jianshu Lv
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  2. Yang Liu
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  5. Yuchi Zhu
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Correspondence to Jianshu Lv or Yang Liu.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Lv, J., Liu, Y., Zhang, Z. et al. Distinguishing anthropogenic and natural sources of trace elements in soils undergoing recent 10-year rapid urbanization: a case of Donggang, Eastern China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 10539–10550 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4213-4

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