Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun 22;12(1):10562.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-13977-6.

Source analysis and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in farmland soils around heavy metal industry in Anxin County

Guoliang Zhao  1 , Ye Ma  1 , Yuzhen Liu  1 , Jiemin Cheng  2 , Xiaofeng Wang  3
Affiliations

Source analysis and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in farmland soils around heavy metal industry in Anxin County

Guoliang Zhao et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Studying the pollution status, spatial distribution characteristics, and sources of heavy metals in farmland soil in Anxin County will provide a method basis for the next step of soil remediation. This study investigates the contents of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and Ni in wheat grains and soil samples. Moreover, different methods are used to evaluate soil heavy metal pollution. The results show that the soil in the study area is weakly alkaline. Cu, Zn, and Ni contents in the ground are lower than the risk screening values for soil contamination of agricultural land. In comparison, Cd and Pb contents are higher than the screening value of soil pollution risk of agricultural land, and the proportion of points lower than the control value of soil pollution risk of agricultural land are 64.58% and 16.67%, respectively. The farmland with high Cd and Pb content is mainly distributed near roads and factories and concentrated primarily on 0-20 cm topsoil. The Cd content in wheat grains meets the standard, but 4.17% of the samples are close to 0.1 mg kg-1 (more than 0.09 mg kg-1). The Pb content of 50% of the wheat grain samples exceeds the lead limit in the standard. The evaluation results of the single factor pollution index and geoaccumulation index show that the pollution degree of heavy metals in the soil is Cd > Pb > Cu > Zn > Ni. The potential ecological risk index in the study area is 288.83, and the soil heavy metal pollution is at a moderate-considerable ecological risk level. The average value of Cd's single-factor environmental risk index is 233.51, which belongs to the high environmental risk and is the main influencing factor. Cd and Pb in soil are significantly disturbed by the production activities of heavy metal processing enterprises around the farmland. It is speculated that there are two primary sources of soil heavy metal pollution in the study area. Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu are mainly industrial and mobile sources, and Ni is primarily agricultural and natural sources.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographical location map of research district.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Location of sampling points in Anxin County.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Box-plot of soil pH distribution.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatial distribution of soil pH in sampling area.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Spatial distribution of heavy metal elements in soil of the study area (a) Zn (b) Cd (c) Cu (d) Pb (e) Ni.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cd concentrations at different depth in soil profiles. (a) D3 soil profile (b) D2 soil profile (c) D1 soil profile (d) D0 soil profile.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Pb concentrations at different depth in soil profiles. (a) D3 soil profile (b) D2 soil profile (c) D1 soil profile (d) D0 soil profile.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Analysis results of activation rate of lead and cadmium in soil.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Evaluation results of single factor pollution index method.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Statistical analysis of single factor ecological risk index. (a) The single factor ecological risk index of five heavy metals. (b) Evaluation results of the single factor ecological risk index of five heavy metals.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Evaluation results of potential ecological risk index method.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Statistical analysis of heavy metal geoaccumulation index in soil. (a) The geoaccumulation index of five heavy metals. (b) Evaluation results of the geoaccumulation index of five heavy metals.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Evaluation results of geoaccumulation index method (a) Pb (b) Cd.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Principal component analysis on factor loading.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhai XQ, et al. Remediation of multiple heavy metal-contaminated soil through the combination of soil washing and in situ immobilization. Sci. Total Environ. 2018;635:92–99. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.119. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hu YA, Cheng HF, Tao S. The challenges and solutions for cadmium-contaminated rice in China: A critical review. Environ. Int. 2016;92–93:515–532. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.04.042. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang J, Li D, Xuan B, Cai XF, Hu FQ. Review on the mechanism and effect of organic materials on available Pb in soil. J. Guizhou Normal Univ. (Nat Sci Ed). 2018;36(02):107–113.
    1. Tian, R. F., Kuang, Y. X., Wang, Z. L., Zhao, P. C. & Liang, P. H. Research on Remediation Technology of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil. IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 859(1), (2021).
    1. Lyanguzova IV. Dynamic trends of heavy metal contents in plants and soil under different industrial air pollution regimes. Russ. J. Ecol. 2017;48(4):311–320. doi: 10.1134/S1067413617040117. - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources