Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pollution assessment and spatial variation of soil heavy metals in Lixia River Region of Eastern China

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The effect of soil heavy metals on crops and human health is an important research topic in some fields (Agriculture, Ecology et al.). In this paper, the objective is to understand the pollution status and spatial variability of soil heavy metals in this study area. These results can help decision-makers apportion possible soil heavy metal sources and formulate pollution control policies, effective soil remediation, and management strategies.

Materials and methods

A total of 212 topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected and analyzed for eight heavy metals (Cd, Hg, As, Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, and Ni) from agricultural areas of Yingbao County in Lixia River Region of Eastern China, by using four indices (pollution index (PI), Nemerow pollution index (PIN), index of geo-accumulation (I geo), E i /risk index (RI)) and cluster analysis to assess pollution level and ecological risk level of soil heavy metals and combining with geostatistics to analyze the concentration change of heavy metals in soils. GS+ software was used to analyze the spatial variation of soil heavy metals, and the semi-variogram model is the main tool to calculate the spatial variability and provide the input parameters for the spatial interpolation of kriging. Arcgis software was used to draw the spatial distribution of soil heavy metals.

Results and discussion

The result indicated that the eight heavy metals in soils of this area had moderate variations, with CVs ranging from 23.51 to 64.37 %. Single pollution index and Nemerow pollution index showed that about 2.7 and 1.36 % of soil sampling sites were moderately polluted by Cd and Zn, respectively. The pollution level of soil heavy metals decreased in the order of Cd > Zn > Pb > As > Cu > Cr > Ni > Hg. The I geo values of heavy metals in this area decreased in the order of Zn > Cd > As > Pb > Cu > Cr > Hg > Ni. According to the E i index, except Cd that was in the moderate ecological risk status, other heavy metals in soils were in the light ecological risk status, and the level of potential ecological risk (RI) of soil sampling sites of the whole area was light.

Conclusions

The results of four indices and the analysis of spatial variation indicated that the contents of Cd and Zn were contributed mainly by anthropogenic activities and located in the south-east of this study area. However, the contents of Hg, As, Cu, Pb, Cr, and Ni in soils were primarily influenced by soil parent materials.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chang CY, Yu HY, Chen JJ, Li FB, Zhang HH, Liu CP (2014) Accumulation of heavy metals in leaf vegetables from agricultural soils and associated potential health risks in the Pearl River Delta. South China. Environ Monit Assess 186:1547–1560

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen HY, Teng YG, Lu SJ, Wang YY, Wang JS (2015) Contamination features and health risk of soil heavy metals in China. Sci Total Environ 512–513:143–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • China Green Food Development Center (1994) Environmental Quality Assessment for Green Food Production Program. Science Press, Beijing, China, in Chinese

    Google Scholar 

  • China Ministry of Environmental Protection (1995) Environmental Quality Standard for Soils(GB 15618–1995, Putting Into Effect As of Mar.1, 1996) (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • China Ministry of Environmental Protection (2004) The Technical Specification for Soil Environmental Monitoring(HJ/T 166–2004, Putting Into Effect As of Dec.9, 2004) (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Facchinelli A, Sacchi E, Mallen L (2001) Multivariate statistical and GIS-based approach to identify heavy metal sources in soils. Environ Pollut 114:313–324

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goovaerts P (1997) Geostatistics for Natural Resources Evaluation. Oxford University Press, NewYork

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakanson L (1980) An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control.A sedimentological approach. Water Res 14(8):975–1001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang PM, Gobran GR (2005) Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements in the Rhizosphere. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang SS, Liao QL, Hua M, Wu XM, Bi KS, Yan CY, Chen B, Zhang XY (2007) Survey of heavy metal pollution and assessment of agricultural soil in Yangzhong district, Jiang Su Province, China. Chemosphere 67:2148–2155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XM, Song QJ, Tang Y, Li WL, Xu JM, Wu JJ, Wang F, Brookes PC (2013) Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil–vegetable system: a multi-medium analysis. Sci Total Environ 463–464:530–540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu AX, Wang JH, Qin XY, Wang KY, Han P, Zhang SZ (2012) Multivariate and geostatistical analyses of the spatial distribution and origin of heavy metals in the agricultural soils in Shunyi, Beijing, China. Sci Total Environ 425:66–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu WD (2010) SPSS statistical analysis, 4th edn. Publishing House of Electronics Industry, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Mireles F, Davila JI, Pinedo JL, Reyes E, Speakman RJ, Glascock MD (2012) Assessing urban soil pollution in the cities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe, Mexico by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Microchem 103:158–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed I, Ahamadou B, Li M, Gong CX, Cai P, Liang W, Huang QY (2010) Fractionation of copper and cadmium and their binding with soil or ganic matter in a contaminated soil amended with organic materials. J Soils Sediments 10:973–982

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nagajyoti PC, Lee KD, Sreekanth TVM (2010) Heavy metals, occurrence and toxicity for plants: a review. Environ Chem Lett 8(3):199–216

  • Rodríguez Martín JA, Ramos-Miras JJ, Boluda R, Gil C (2013) Spatial relations of heavy metals in arable and greenhouse soils of a Mediterranean environment region (Spain). Geoderma 200–201:180–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romic M, Romic D (2003) Heavy metals distribution in agricultural topsoils in urban area. Environ Geol 43:795–805

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor SR, McLennan SM (1995) The geochemical evolution of the continental crust. Rev Geophys 33:241–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster R, Oliver MA (2001) Geostatistics for Environmental Scientists. Wiley, Chichester

  • Wei B, Yang L (2010) A review of heavy metal contaminations in urban soils, urban road dusts and agricultural soils from China. Microchem 94:99–107

  • Wong SC, Li XD, Zhang GQ, Min YS (2002) Heavy metals in agricultural soils of the Pearl River Delta, South China. Environ Pollut 119:33–44

  • Xu Z, Ni S, Tuo X, Zhang C (2008) Calculation of heavy metals’ toxicity coefficient in the evaluation of potential ecological risk index. Environ Sci Technol 31(2):112–115

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yaylalı-Abanuz G (2011) Heavy metal contamination of surface soil around Gebze industrial area, Turkey. Microchem 99(1):82–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin S, Lv HJ, Guo YX, Huang WH, Gang L (2013) An analysis of surface soil of city on levels of pollution based on nemerow index and geoaccumulation index. China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, CNKI, pp 698–701

    Google Scholar 

  • You DM (2014) Monitoring and spatial estimation of contents of soil heavy metals (Doctor degree paper). China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao KL, Liu XM, Zhang WW, Xu JM, Wang F (2011) Spatial dependence and bioavailability of metal fractions in paddy fields on metal concentrations in rice grain at a regional scale. J Soils Sediments 11:1165–1177

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, Xu X, Sun W, Huang B, Darilek JL, Shi X (2008) Uncertainty assessment of mapping mercury contaminated soils of a rapidly industrializing city in the Yangtze River Delta of China using sequential indicator cosimulation. Environ Monit Assess 138(1–3):343–355

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhong BQ, Liang T, Wang LQ, Li KX (2014) Applications of stochastic models and geostatistical analyses to study sources and spatial patterns of soil heavy metals in a metalliferous industrial district of China. Sci Total Environ 490:422–434

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Research Fund Program of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology of Yangzhou City (No. YZ201301065). We thank Yangzhou University Test Center for providing the laboratory to experiment and for analyzing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, China

    Jie Zhou

  2. College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225008, China

    Ke Feng & Mengjiang Lu

  3. School of Environmental Science & Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Zongping Pei

Authors
  1. Jie Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ke Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zongping Pei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mengjiang Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jie Zhou.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Gilbert C. Sigua

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhou, J., Feng, K., Pei, Z. et al. Pollution assessment and spatial variation of soil heavy metals in Lixia River Region of Eastern China. J Soils Sediments 16, 748–755 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1289-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1289-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation