Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination in Black Soil at Sanjiang Plain: From Source Analysis to Health Risk Assessment

Zijie Gao; Jie Jiang; Guotai Sun

doi:10.3390/pr12122829

journal article Open Access Dec 10, 2024

Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination in Black Soil at Sanjiang Plain: From Source Analysis to Health Risk Assessment

Zijie Gao

Jie Jiang

Guotai Sun

Processes Vol. 12 No. 12 pp. 2829 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/pr12122829

Abstract

Heavy metals were discharged into the agricultural soil through coal mining, transportation, etc., posing a threat to human health through the food chain. In order to investigate the sources of heavy metals and potential risk to the population, we collected 298 surface soil samples in the black soil area of Sanjiang Plain in Heilongjiang province and tested the concentrations of seven heavy metals. Toxic element contamination in the soil was evaluated by combining the potential ecological risk index and environmental capacity, and pollution sources are identified through positive matrix factorization. The results indicate that the concentrations of Cd and As exceed background values by 1.74 and 1.51 times, respectively, and the ecological risk of Cd is significantly higher than those of other toxic elements. The comprehensive ecological risk level is a moderate comprehensive ecological risk level at 78.5% and a low comprehensive ecological risk level at 21.5%. The sources of heavy metal elements include pesticide spraying (36.5%), input fertilizer and transport activities (20.5%), and mining and metallurgy-related activities (43.1%). When linking the PMF to the Human Health Risk Assessment model, it was found that about 56% of the samples pose a carcinogenic risk to children. Knowledge of soil pollution can certainly help to understand the sources of toxic elements and the health risks to people in the black soil area and provide a scientific basis for the prevention of heavy metal pollution.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

100

[1]

Sow "Geofractionation of Heavy Metals and Application of Indices for Pollution Prediction in Paddy Field Soil of Tumpat, Malaysia" Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. (2013) 10.1007/s11356-013-1857-9

[2]

Vasudhevan "Pollution Assessment, Ecological Risk and Source Identification of Heavy Metals in Paddy Soils and Rice Grains from Salem, South India" J. Hazard Mater. Adv. (2024) 10.1016/j.hazadv.2024.100526

[3]

Saha "A Comprehensive Study of Source Apportionment, Spatial Distribution, and Health Risks Assessment of Heavy Metal(Loid)s in the Surface Soils of a Semi-Arid Mining Region in Matehuala, Mexico" Environ. Res. (2024) 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119619

[4]

Oguntuase "A Comprehensive Environmental Analysis of Heavy Metal Contamination, Ecological Risks and Health Impacts in Ilokun Area, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria" Environ. Pollut. Manag. (2024) 10.1016/j.epm.2024.08.004

[5]

Liu "Quantitative Source Apportionment, Risk Assessment and Distribution of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils from Southern Shandong Peninsula of China" Sci. Total Environ. (2021) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144879

[6]

Zheng "Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil and Food Crops in the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration of China" Food Chem. (2020) 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126213

[7]

Sun "Levels, Sources, and Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals in Soils from a Typical Coal Industrial City of Tangshan, China" CATENA (2019) 10.1016/j.catena.2018.12.014

[8]

Zhang "Source Identification and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Soil from a Typical Agricultural Area in the Sanjiang Plain, China" Chiang Mai J. Sci. (2020)

[9]

Zhang "Spatiotemporal Simulation and Predication of Heavy Metal(Loid) Concentrations in Coal Chemical Industrial Areas with a Soil Environmental Capacity Model" Int. J. Coal Sci. Technol. (2018) 10.1007/s40789-018-0226-1

[10]

Fu "Spatial Distribution, Risk Assessment, and Source Identification of Pollutants around Gold Tailings Ponds: A Case Study in Pinggu District, Beijing, China" Environ. Monit. Assess. (2021) 10.1007/s10661-021-09274-w

[11]

Su, C., Meng, J., Zhou, Y., Bi, R., Chen, Z., Diao, J., Huang, Z., Kan, Z., and Wang, T. (2022). Heavy Metals in Soils from Intense Industrial Areas in South China: Spatial Distribution, Source Apportionment, and Risk Assessment. Front. Environ. Sci., 10. 10.3389/fenvs.2022.820536

[12]

Dai "Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Based on Source Analysis and Monte Carlo in the Downstream Basin of the Zishui" Environ. Res. (2024) 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117975

[13]

Li, D., Lu, Q., Cai, L., Chen, L., and Wang, H. (2023). Characteristics of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution and Health Risk Assessment in Urban Parks at a Megacity of Central China. Toxics, 11. 10.3390/toxics11030257

[14]

Mohammadi "Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution and Human Health Risks Assessment in Soils Around an Industrial Zone in Neyshabur, Iran" Biol. Trace Elem. Res. (2020) 10.1007/s12011-019-01816-1

[15]

Zhou "Soil Heavy Metal Pollution Evaluation around Mine Area with Traditional and Ecological Assessment Methods" J. Geosci. Environ. Prot. (2015)

[16]

Sobti, R.C., Arora, N.K., and Kothari, R. (2019). Heavy metal contamination: An alarming threat to environment and human health. Environmental Biotechnology: For Sustainable Future, Springer.

[17]

Saleem, M., Sens, D.A., Somji, S., Pierce, D., Wang, Y., Leopold, A., Haque, M.E., and Garrett, S.H. (2023). Contamination Assessment and Potential Human Health Risks of Heavy Metals in Urban Soils from Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Toxics, 11. 10.3390/toxics11020132

[18]

Han "Ecological and Health Risks Assessment and Spatial Distribution of Residual Heavy Metals in the Soil of an E-Waste Circular Economy Park in Tianjin, China" Chemosphere (2018) 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.01.043

[19]

Pan "Incorporating Environmental Capacity Considerations to Prioritize Control Factors for the Management of Heavy Metals in Soil" J. Environ. Manag. (2024) 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119820

[20]

Tian "Environmental Capacity of Heavy Metals in Intensive Agricultural Soils: Insights from Geochemical Baselines and Source Apportionment" Sci. Total Environ. (2022) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153078

[21]

Pan "Spatiotemporal Simulation, Early Warning, and Policy Recommendations of the Soil Heavy Metal Environmental Capacity of the Agricultural Land in a Typical Industrial City in China: Case of Zhongshan City" J. Clean Prod. (2021) 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124849

[22]

Singha "Ecological and Human Health Risk Associated with Heavy Metals (HMs) Contaminant Sourced from Petroleum Refinery Oily Sludge" J. Hazard. Mater. (2024) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135077

[23]

Wu "Source Apportionment of Heavy Metals in the Soil at the Regional Scale Based on Soil-Forming Processes" J. Hazard. Mater. (2023) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130910

[24]

Liao "The Quantitative Source Apportionment of Heavy Metals in Peri-Urban Agricultural Soils with UNMIX and Input Fluxes Analysis" Environ. Technol. Innov. (2021) 10.1016/j.eti.2020.101232

[25]

Adamiec "Distribution of Pollutants in the Odra River System. Part IV. Heavy Metal Distribution in Water of the Upper and Middle Odra River, 1998–2000" Pol. J. Environ. Stud. (2002)

[26]

Li, X., Ding, D., Xie, W., Zhang, Y., Kong, L., Li, M., Li, M., and Deng, S. (2024). Risk Assessment and Source Analysis of Heavy Metals in Soil around an Asbestos Mine in an Arid Plateau Region, China. Sci. Rep., 14. 10.1038/s41598-024-58117-4

[27]

Cheng "Geographic Distribution of Heavy Metals and Identification of Their Sources in Soils near Large, Open-Pit Coal Mines Using Positive Matrix Factorization" J. Hazard. Mater. (2020) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121666

[28]

Wu "A Partition Computing-Based Positive Matrix Factorization (PC-PMF) Approach for the Source Apportionment of Agricultural Soil Heavy Metal Contents and Associated Health Risks" J. Hazard. Mater. (2020) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121766

[29]

Wang, Z., Zhang, J., and Watanabe, I. (2022). Source Apportionment and Risk Assessment of Soil Heavy Metals Due to Railroad Activity Using a Positive Matrix Factorization Approach. Sustainability, 15. 10.3390/su15010075

[30]

Chandra "An Integrated Overview of Metals Contamination, Source-Specific Risks Investigation in Coal Mining Vicinity Soils" Environ. Geochem. Health (2023) 10.1007/s10653-023-01672-y

[31]

Wang "Rates and Causes of Black Soil Erosion in Northeast China" CATENA (2022) 10.1016/j.catena.2022.106250

[32]

Song "Bioconcentrations and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Crops in the Naoli River Basin Agricultural Area, Sanjiang Plain, China" Environ. Earth Sci. (2021) 10.1007/s12665-021-09734-z

[33]

Song "Source Apportionment and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils in Xinglonggang, Northeastern China" Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess. Int. J. (2018) 10.1080/10807039.2017.1392232

[34]

Xie, X. (2004). GIS-Based Research on National-Scale and Regional-Scale Soil Organic Carbon Pools. [Ph.D. Thesis, Nanjing Normal University].

[35]

(2004). Ministry of Ecology and Environment the People’s Republic of China. The Technical Specification for soil Environmental monitoring (Standard No. HJ/T 166-2004).

[36]

Hakanson "An Ecological Risk Index for Aquatic Pollution Control.a Sedimentological Approach" Water Res. (1980) 10.1016/0043-1354(80)90143-8

[37]

Liang, F., Pan, Y., Peng, H., Zeng, M., and Huang, C. (2022). Time-Space Simulation, Health Risk Warning and Policy Recommendations of Environmental Capacity for Heavy Metals in the Pearl River Basin, China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health, 19. 10.3390/ijerph19084694

[38]

Dong "Risk Assessment and Sources Identification of Soil Heavy Metals in a Typical County of Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China" Process Saf. Environ. Prot. (2018) 10.1016/j.psep.2017.10.021

[39]

Xia "Integrated Pollution Analysis, Pollution Area Identification and Source Apportionment of Heavy Metal Contamination in Agricultural Soil" J. Hazard. Mater. (2024) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133215

[40]

Chen, Z., Xu, J., Yang, F., Hou, Z., Ren, K., Yu, L., Yang, S., Li, Z., and Zhang, X. (2023). Comprehensive Monitoring and Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil and Surface Water of Chishui River Basin in Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River. Water., 15. 10.3390/w15112069

[41]

Xu "Source Apportionment of Fine Particulate Matter at a Megacity in China, Using an Improved Regularization Supervised PMF Model" Sci. Total Environ. (2023) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163198

[42]

Shao "Sources Apportionments of Heavy Metal(Loid)s in the Farmland Soils Close to Industrial Parks: Integrated Application of Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and Cadmium Isotopic Fractionation" Sci. Total Environ. (2024) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171598

[43]

Singh "An Approach to Quantify Heavy Metals and Their Source Apportionment in Coal Mine Soil: A Study through PMF Model" Environ. Monit. Assess. (2023) 10.1007/s10661-023-10924-4

[44]

Taghavi, M., Bakhshi, K., Zarei, A., Hoseinzadeh, E., and Gholizadeh, A. (2024). Soil Pollution Indices and Health Risk Assessment of Metal(Loid)s in the Agricultural Soil of Pistachio Orchards. Sci. Rep., 14. 10.1038/s41598-024-59450-4

[45]

Yu "Pollution and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soils of Guizhou, China" Ecosyst. Health Sustain. (2021) 10.1080/20964129.2020.1859948

[46]

Liu, Z. (2023). Research on Heavy Metal Pollution and Risk of Agricultural Soils in Key Industrial and Agricultural Areas of Hexi Region. [Ph.D. Thesis, Lanzhou University].

[47]

Zhao "Characteristics, Source Apportionment and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Exposure via Household Dust from Six Cities in China" Sci. Total Environ. (2021) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143126

[48]

Liu "Heavy Metals Distribution Characteristics, Source Analysis, and Risk Evaluation of Soils around Mines, Quarries, and Other Special Areas in a Region of Northwestern Yunnan, China" J. Hazard. Mater. (2023) 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132050

[49]

Liu, T., and Wang, Z. (2024). Contamination and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil Surrounding an Electroplating Factory in JiaXing, China. Sci. Rep., 14. 10.1038/s41598-024-54620-w

[50]

Jiang "An Integrated Approach to Quantifying Ecological and Human Health Risks from Different Sources of Soil Heavy Metals" Sci. Total Environ. (2020) 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134466

Showing 50 of 100 references

Metrics

4

Citations

100

References

Details

Published: Dec 10, 2024
Vol/Issue: 12(12)
Pages: 2829
License: View

Authors

Z

Zijie Gao

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35 Qinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China

J

Jie Jiang

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, No. 35 Qinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China

G

Guotai Sun

State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing 100083, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 Yanqihu East Road, Beijing 101408, China

Funding

National Key Research and Development Programme of China Award: XDA28020101

Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Special Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award: XDA28020101

Cite This Article

Zijie Gao, Jie Jiang, Guotai Sun (2024). Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination in Black Soil at Sanjiang Plain: From Source Analysis to Health Risk Assessment. Processes, 12(12), 2829. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12122829

Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination in Black Soil at Sanjiang Plain: From Source Analysis to Health Risk Assessment

You May Also Like