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Introducing a land-use-based spatial analysis method for human health risk evaluation of soil heavy metals

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Abstract

A land-use-based method for potential human health risk analysis was introduced by employing soil sampling data in Zhuzhou City, China. It was found that distribution and sources of heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb, Zn and Cr) in soil had a large variation among different land-use types. A total of 8.3 % of the study area recorded a hazard index (HI) above the threshold of 1.0. High HIs were located mainly in the industrial area. The largest contribution to HI was the arsenic (over 87 %) and the pathway of soil ingestion (about 76 %). The mean standardized error and root mean square standardized error indicated that the land-use-based simulation method provided more accurate estimates than the method that applied geostatistical methods to the whole study area and did not consider land-use information. The areas of greater concern for human health can be spatially identified and health risks can be better quantified by evaluation of different land-use types.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51204074 and 41203061) and the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Industry Targeted Research Fund (No. 201209048 and No.ZX021-201106-031).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou, 510655, Guangdong, China

    Zhenxing Wang, Zhihua Pang, Qingwei Guo, Jianyu Chen, Zhencheng Xu, Yutao Lei, Xibang Hu, Qijin Luo, Rongxin Huang & Fangmin Lin

  2. School of Geosciences and Info-physics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Jianqun Chen & Guoqing Sun

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  1. Zhenxing Wang
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  2. Zhihua Pang
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  3. Qingwei Guo
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  5. Zhencheng Xu
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Correspondence to Zhencheng Xu.

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Wang, Z., Pang, Z., Guo, Q. et al. Introducing a land-use-based spatial analysis method for human health risk evaluation of soil heavy metals. Environ Earth Sci 70, 3225–3235 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2387-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2387-y

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