Risk assessment and source analysis of heavy metal contamination in the soil of the Juanshui River Mouth

ABSTRACT

Heavy metals with a high concentration value in the soil are detrimental to the soil ecosystem. In this study, 96 samples were taken from two soil sections (A-A, B-B) in the mouth of the Juanshui River to analyze heavy metal pollution. Soil pollution status and the ecological risk were investigated using Nemerow and the potential ecological risk index. The sources affecting pollution and pollution distribution characteristics were exhibited based on Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), principal component analysis (PCA), and Statistics. Pollution in the soil of the mouth of the Juanshui River had reached a moderate level. Hg and Cd were the main potential ecological risk contributions. Coal burning and agricultural chemicals were the predominant pollution source in the study area. In order to avoid the soil of the river mouth becoming a secondary pollution source for water bodies and resulting in a vicious circle of heavy metal pollution, heavy metals in the soil of the river mouth of China should be mainly managed and controlled.

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metal
• Juanshui river
• soil pollution
• risk assessment
• source analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Key R&D project of Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province (2022SK2073).