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The distributions, contamination status, and health risk assessments of mercury and arsenic in the soils from the Yellow River Delta of China

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Abstract

The surface soils were collected from four areas in the Yellow River Delta (YRD), including three functional areas in the natural reserve of the YRD (the core area, buffer area, and experimental area) and a neighboring area of the natural reserve. The total concentrations, speciations, contamination status, and health risk assessments of the mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As) in surface soils of the YRD were investigated. The average Hg concentration was about three times that of the background value, while As was just slightly higher than the background. Hg levels in the sites of experimental area were significantly higher than those in the core area and buffer area, which was consistent with the human activity intensities of the three functional areas. However, no significant differences of As levels were observed across different areas. According to the sequential extraction experiments, only less than 5% of Hg and As were associated with the exchangeable fraction, while over 80% of them were found in the residual fraction, indicating low mobility and bioavailability of both Hg and As. The soil contamination status assessments suggested a “good state,” and the health risk assessments indicated a “low risk” of Hg and As in the soils of YRD.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB238903), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 41672144, 41402133), and China Postdoctoral Science Fund (BH2260080006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Meng Ge, Guijian Liu, Houqi Liu, Zijiao Yuan & Yuan Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, Shaanxi, China

    Meng Ge, Guijian Liu, Zijiao Yuan & Yuan Liu

  3. University of Hong Kong Joint Advanced Research Centre, University of Science and Technology of China-City, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, China

    Meng Ge

  4. Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Houqi Liu

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  1. Meng Ge
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  3. Houqi Liu
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Correspondence to Guijian Liu.

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Ge, M., Liu, G., Liu, H. et al. The distributions, contamination status, and health risk assessments of mercury and arsenic in the soils from the Yellow River Delta of China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 35094–35106 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06435-w

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