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Magnetic, geochemical characterization and health risk assessment of road dust in Xuanwei and Fuyuan, China

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Abstract

As an accumulation of solid organic and inorganic pollutant particles on outdoor ground surfaces, road dust is an important carrier of heavy metal contaminants and can be a valuable medium for characterizing urban environmental quality. Because the dusts can be an important source of atmospheric particles and take impact on human health, the aim of this study described in detail the mineralogical characteristics, morphology, and heavy metal content of road dust from Xuanwei and Fuyuan, locations with high lung cancer incidence. Our results show that the average concentrations of heavy metals in road dust were higher than their background values. Higher concentrations of heavy metals were found in the magnetic fractions (MFs) than in the non-magnetic fractions (NMFs). Magnetic measurements revealed high magnetic susceptibility values in the road dust samples, and the dominant magnetic carrier was magnetite. The magnetic grains were predominantly pseudo-single domain, multi-domain, and coarse-grained stable single domains (coarse SSD) in size. SEM/XRD analysis identified two groups of magnetic particles: spherules and angular/aggregate particles. Hazard index (HI) values for adults exposure to road dust samples, including MF, Bulk, and NMF, in both areas were lower or close to safe levels, while HI values for childhood exposure to magnetic fractions in both areas were very close or higher than safe levels. Cancer risks from road dust exposure in both areas were in the acceptable value range.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grant Nos. 21477073, 41273127), International Cooperation and Exchanges NSFC-JSPS (41511140096), and the Program for Innovative Research Team in the University (No. IRT13078).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Zhengying Tan, Senlin Lu, Hui Zhao, Xiao Kai, Peng Jiaxian & Myat Sandar Win

  2. Institute for Environmental Pollution and Health, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Shang Yu

  3. Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Saitama, 374-0115, Japan

    Shinich Yonemochi

  4. School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan

    Qingyue Wang

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  1. Zhengying Tan
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  2. Senlin Lu
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  3. Hui Zhao
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  5. Peng Jiaxian
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Correspondence to Senlin Lu.

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Tan, Z., Lu, S., Zhao, H. et al. Magnetic, geochemical characterization and health risk assessment of road dust in Xuanwei and Fuyuan, China. Environ Geochem Health 40, 1541–1555 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0070-7

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