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Ecological and health risk assessment of trace elements in surface soil in an arid region of Xin Jiang, China

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Trace element pollution in soil has become an increasingly common issue and potentially harms the environment and human health. In this study, the contamination levels and ecological and health risk indices of trace elements in surface soils in Bai Cheng, Xin Jiang, were investigated in order to examine if the land usage changed from pasture to agriculture has influenced the behaviours of these trace elements.

Material and methods

In this study, descriptive analysis, normality test, the Tukey-HSD method and non-parametric methods were used to investigate the characteristics of trace elements. The geo-accumulation pollution and ecological risk indices were used to analyse the degree of contamination by trace elements. Correlation and principle analyses were used to identify the sources of trace elements and a health risk assessment was used to analyse human exposure to trace elements of the soil.

Results and discussion

Cadmium was the main pollutant in the 0–5 cm soil layer in both agricultural and pastoral areas. Thus, it contributed most to the Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo) and the comprehensive potential ecological risk index (RI) of the surface soils. The levels of RI for the topsoil layer of agricultural areas fell into moderate to high (II-III) ecological risk categories, and those of pastoral areas belonged to low to moderate risk categories (I-II). Both values of Igeo and RI of the surface soils in agricultural areas were higher than in pastoral areas. The carcinogenic risk of Cr through hand-to-mouth intake and the total risk of trace elements in soils for humans were higher than the safety reference level. Chromium was the greatest contributor to total carcinogenic risk.

Conclusions

Trace element concentration levels in surface soils in pastoral areas were relevant to geochemical characteristics and atmospheric deposition, whereas trace element concentration levels in surface soils in agricultural areas were derived not only from geochemical characteristics but also from human activities. The change in land use from pasture to agriculture increased the trace element concentration level in surface soils. There were both ecological risks and human health implications for residents exposed to such contaminants of soils in the studied region.

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (NO. 2018YFC0407502); Science and Technology Project of Beautiful China Ecological Civilization Construction (No. XDA23100403).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Muyesaier Tudi, Binggan Wei, Li Wang, Shuangmei Tong, Chang Kong & Lin-sheng Yang

  2. Centre for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, 170 Kessel Road, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Muyesaier Tudi

  3. School of Medicine, Griffith University, 170 Kessel Road, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Muyesaier Tudi & Huada Daniel Ruan

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Muyesaier Tudi, Binggan Wei, Li Wang, Shuangmei Tong, Chang Kong & Lin-sheng Yang

  5. Beijing Normal University–Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, 2000 Jintong Road, Tangjiawan, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China

    Huada Daniel Ruan

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  1. Muyesaier Tudi
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  2. Huada Daniel Ruan
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  6. Chang Kong
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  7. Lin-sheng Yang
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Correspondence to Lin-sheng Yang.

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Tudi, M., Ruan, H.D., Wei, B. et al. Ecological and health risk assessment of trace elements in surface soil in an arid region of Xin Jiang, China. J Soils Sediments 21, 936–947 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02812-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02812-y

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