Anthropogenic increase of heavy metals in soil from a heavily contaminated area of China

ABSTRACT

Evaluating the variation in heavy metal concentrations in soil caused by anthropogenic activities in heavily contaminated areas is of great significance. The degree of heavy metal pollution in soil is primarily assessed by different indices with different standards and reference elements. However, these methods cannot be used to evaluate the degree of heavy metal pollution caused by anthropogenic activities. In this study, Zhuzhou, China was selected as the contaminated area, and Yueyang, China was selected as the background area, where geological and climatic conditions are similar to those of Zhuzhou, China. The concentrations of As (6.6–23.6 mg/kg), Cd (0.125–0.757 mg/kg), Cu (33–75 mg/kg), Hg (0.032–0.202 mg/kg), Pb (17–108 mg/kg), and Zn (74–122 mg/kg) in the vertical soil profiles in the contaminated area were higher than those in the background area (ranging 1.7–20.7, 0.085–0.210, 21–47, 0.030–0.105, 17–38 and 32–88 mg/kg, respectively). K₂O/Al₂O₃, SiO₂/Al₂O₃, and the weathering leaching coefficient (ba) showed little difference, suggesting that the weathering degree of soil in these two areas was similar. The weathering degree of soil governs the geochemical behavior of heavy metals and reference elements. According to the prediction models for heavy metal concentrations and organic carbon, K₂O/Al₂O₃, and SiO₂/Al₂O₃ in the soil profiles from the background area, the increase in heavy metal concentrations in the topsoil in the contaminated area was depicted. The heavy metal concentrations in topsoil were obviously affected by anthropogenic activities. This study provides a case study for evaluating the impact of anthropogenic activities on heavy metals in soil.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Anthropogenic activities
• heavy metal
• soil
• Zhuzhou

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 41773019; the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant 2017YFD0800304; and the China Geological Survey Project under Grant 12120113002300, DD20160323.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Author contributions

Jiaxin Wang: Data analysis, Writing- Original draft preparation. Qingye Hou: Supervision, Conceptualization, Writing- Reviewing and Editing. Zhongfang Yang: Supervision, Writing- Reviewing. Tao Yu: Supervision, Writing- Reviewing, Riyang Wen: Writing- Reviewing.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/26395940.2023.2238895