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Spatial distribution, health risk assessment, and isotopic composition of lead contamination of street dusts in different functional areas of Beijing, China

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Abstract

Street dusts from heavy density traffic area (HDTA), tourism area (TA), residential area (RA), and educational area (EA) in Beijing were collected to explore the distribution, health risk assessment, and source of lead (Pb). The average concentration of Pb in TA was the highest among the four areas. Compared with other cities, Pb concentrations in Beijing were generally at moderate or low levels. The average value (14.05) of ecological risk index (RI) indicated that Pb was at “low pollution risk” status. According to the calculation on hazard index (HI), the ingestion of dust particles of children and adults was the major route of exposure to street dusts in four studied areas, followed by dermal contact. The lower values of HI than 1 further suggested that non-carcinogenic risks of Pb in the street dusts were in the low range. Comparing 206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/207Pb ratios of street dusts with other environmental samples, it was found that atmospheric deposition of coal combustion dust might be the main pathway for anthropogenic Pb input to the street dusts in four functional areas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2014T70094, 2013M530668), and the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (Grant No. 2014QN02 and 2014RC08)..

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China

    Lanfang Han, Bo Gao & Dongyu Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Lanfang Han, Xin Wei & Li Gao

  3. Department of Water Environment, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China

    Bo Gao & Dongyu Xu

Authors
  1. Lanfang Han
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  2. Bo Gao
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  3. Xin Wei
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  4. Dongyu Xu
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  5. Li Gao
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Correspondence to Bo Gao.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Han, L., Gao, B., Wei, X. et al. Spatial distribution, health risk assessment, and isotopic composition of lead contamination of street dusts in different functional areas of Beijing, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 3247–3255 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5535-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5535-y

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