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. 2022 Mar 31;19(7):4125.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074125.

Heavy Metal Pollution and Soil Quality Assessment under Different Land Uses in the Red Soil Region, Southern China

Zhiping Yang  1 , Rong Zhang  2 , Hongying Li  3 , Xiaoyuan Zhao  4 , Xiaojie Liu  4
Affiliations

Heavy Metal Pollution and Soil Quality Assessment under Different Land Uses in the Red Soil Region, Southern China

Zhiping Yang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The influences of different land uses associated with human activities on soil quality and the redistribution of heavy metal in soil have been widely concerned. Surface soil samples were obtained to assess comprehensive soil quality in a typical red soil region of southern China, combining the heavy metal pollution evaluation with fertility evaluation. It can be learned from the results that the overall level of soil fertility was at medium and lower level, and soil heavy metal pollution risk in the study area in a few regions had reached warning line and slight pollution line, and there was a risk of potential pollution. TOPSIS evaluation results showed that the comprehensive soil quality was mainly good quality and moderate quality, accounting for 31.7% and 29.0% of the total land area, respectively. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model results showed that transportation source contributes a lot in terms of Cd and Pb. As for Cr, natural source contributes 53.8%. In terms of Cu and Zn, agriculture source contributes 50.7% and 38.7%, respectively. In a word, the comprehensive soil quality assessment in red soil region of southern China provides an important basis for the scientific management and sustainable utilization of soil resources.

Keywords: TOPSIS; land use types; positive matrix factorization; soil quality assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of study area and sampling sites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Violin of soil property concentrations (n = 43). The white point represents the median value of concentration. The black boxes range from the lower quartile to the upper quartile. The tentacles extend to the most extreme data point, which do not exceed 1.5 times the IQR (interquartile spacing) of the boxes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation matrix of soil properties. The number indicate strong correlation (* p < 0.1 and ** p < 0.05) or significant correlation (*** p < 0.01).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatial distribution of integrated fertility index (IFI) in the study area.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Spatial distribution of single factor index (Pi) and Nemerow comprehensive index (Pn) in the study area.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Spatial distribution of comprehensive soil quality.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Analytical contribution of heavy metal PMF source.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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