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Multivariate analysis of heavy metal pollution in street dusts of Xianyang city, NW China

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Abstract

Urban street dust is one of important indicators of the status of urban environmental pollution. There are many studies in capital cities, but little attention has been paid to this kind of study in medium cities, especially in China. The dust samples were collected in the district of traffic crossroads in Xianyang city, Shaanxi Province. Pb, Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr and Mn concentrations were determined by using atomic absorption spectrometry. The results indicate that street dusts in Xianyang city have elevated metal concentrations as a whole in comparison with Shaanxi Province soil, except for Mn. The content of heavy metals was comparable to those in capital cities. Correlation coefficient analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used and three main sources were identified; Mn comes mainly from soil sources; Cu, Zn and Ni are mainly derived from industrial sources combined with traffic sources; Pb, Cr and Cd have traffic sources. Heavy metal enrichment factors were calculated, which can reflect human influence degree of street dusts.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40801008) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. GK201002017). Professor Huang Y and Yan S P made contributions to this experiment. Zhang X N assisted us with our English usage.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Xingmin Shi

  2. College of Tourism and Resource Environment, Xianyang Normal University, Xianyang, 712000, Shaanxi, China

    Lingxia Chen

  3. College of Chemical Science, Xianyang Normal University, Xianyang, 712000, Shaanxi, China

    Jianhui Wang

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  1. Xingmin Shi
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  2. Lingxia Chen
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  3. Jianhui Wang
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Correspondence to Xingmin Shi.

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Shi, X., Chen, L. & Wang, J. Multivariate analysis of heavy metal pollution in street dusts of Xianyang city, NW China. Environ Earth Sci 69, 1973–1979 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-2032-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-2032-1

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