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Spatial analysis and hazard assessment of mercury in soil around the coal-fired power plant: a case study from the city of Baoji, China

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Environmental Geology

An Erratum to this article was published on 15 August 2007

Abstract

Based on systematic sampling of soil around the coal-fired power plant (CFPP), the content of Hg was determined, using atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The result shows that the content of Hg in soil is different horizontally and vertically, ranges from 0.137 to 2.105 mg/kg (the average value is 0.606 mg/kg) and is more than the average content of Hg in Shaanxi, Chinese and world soil. In this study, spatial distribution and hazard assessment of mercury in soils around a CFPP were investigated using statistics, geostatistics and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. Ordinary kriging was carried out to map the spatial patterns of mercury and disjunctive kriging was used to quantify the probability of the Hg concentration higher than the threshold. The maps show that the spatial variability of the Hg concentration in soils was apparent. These results of this study could provide valuable information for risk assessment of environmental Hg pollution and decision support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, Physics and Engineering, Shaanxi Institute of Education, Xi’an, 710061, China

    Xiaopeng Yang

  2. College of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, China

    Lingqing Wang

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  1. Xiaopeng Yang
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  2. Lingqing Wang
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Correspondence to Lingqing Wang.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0959-4

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Yang, X., Wang, L. Spatial analysis and hazard assessment of mercury in soil around the coal-fired power plant: a case study from the city of Baoji, China. Environ Geol 53, 1381–1388 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0747-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0747-1

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