Please wait a minute...
Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2020, Vol. 12 Issue (6): 1001-1017    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-020-0029-2     CSTR: 32276.14.s40333-020-0029-2
Research article     
Geochemical baseline determination and contamination of heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City, China
ZHANG Hua, YU Miao, XU Hongjia, WEN Huan, FAN Haiyan, WANG Tianyi, LIU Jiangang*()
School of Geography, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
Download: HTML     PDF(1251KB)
Export: BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      

Abstract  

Urban topsoil is the most frequent interface between human society and natural environment. The accumulation of heavy metals in the urban topsoil has a direct effect on residents' life and health. The geochemical baseline of heavy metals is an objective description of the general level of heavy metals in the urban topsoil. Meanwhile, the determination of geochemical baseline is necessary for regional environmental management, especially in coal cities prone to heavy metal pollution. Heavy metal pollution has become an environmental problem in Fuxin City, China for a long time. To establish the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City and to evaluate the ecological risk of the topsoil, we collected 75 topsoil samples (0-20 cm) and analyzed the concentrations of Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg and As through X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. We determined the geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the topsoil of Fuxin City by using iteration removal, box-whisker plot, cumulative frequency curve and reference metal normalization; evaluated the contamination risk and ecological risk of the topsoil by using the baseline factor index, Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index; and identified the source category of heavy metals in the topsoil by using a pedigree clustering heatmap. Results showed that the geochemical baseline values were 42.86, 89.34, 92.23, 60.55, 145.21, 0.09, 0.08 and 4.17 mg/kg for Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, Hg and As, respectively. The results of Nemerow index and Hakanson potential ecological risk index indicated that the urban topsoil in the study area was slightly contaminated and suffering low potential ecological risk. The main contaminated areas dominated in the middle part and northeast part of the study area, especially in the western Haizhou Strip Mine. The result of baseline factor index indicated that Hg and Cd were the major pollution elements. Using a pedigree clustering heatmap, we divided the sources of these heavy metals into three types: type I for Ni and Cr, largely represented the enrichment of heavy metals from natural sources; type II for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and As, mainly represented the enrichment of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources; and type III for Hg, represented the form of both natural and anthropogenic inputs.

Key words： heavy metals      urban topsoil      geochemical baseline      contamination index      pedigree clustering heatmap     
Received: 02 November 2019      Published: 10 November 2020
Corresponding Authors:
About author: *LIU Jiangang (E-mail: liujiangang@lnnu.edu.cn)
Service
E-mail this article
Add to my bookshelf
Add to citation manager
E-mail Alert
RSS
Articles by authors
Hua ZHANG
Miao YU
Hongjia XU
Huan WEN
Haiyan FAN
Tianyi WANG
Jiangang LIU
Cite this article:

ZHANG Hua, YU Miao, XU Hongjia, WEN Huan, FAN Haiyan, WANG Tianyi, LIU Jiangang. Geochemical baseline determination and contamination of heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(6): 1001-1017.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-020-0029-2     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2020/V12/I6/1001

Fig. 1 Sampling sites and distribution in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Functional area Item Cu
(mg/kg)		 Ni
(mg/kg)		 Zn
(mg/kg)		 Pb
(mg/kg)		 Cr
(mg/kg)		 Cd
(mg/kg)		 Hg
(mg/kg)		 As
(mg/kg)
Whole
study
area		 Minimum 20.00 38.50 40.17 27.85 75.26 0.02 0.03 0.73
Maximum 156.58 207.45 510.16 168.95 1095.42 1.18 0.64 8.40
Average 45.13 91.84 107.96 63.15 162.50 0.13 0.11 4.36
CV (%) 36.54 36.23 61.51 32.31 73.01 132.05 93.08 53.67
Traffic
area		 Minimum 29.56 51.08 41.78 34.35 98.53 0.05 0.03 1.32
Maximum 72.70 146.16 279.58 168.95 239.47 1.18 0.44 8.40
Average 48.84 95.03 117.18 69.01 148.47 0.28 0.12 5.33
CV (%) 20.60 28.73 49.37 44.97 29.32 120.72 82.48 38.84
Industrial
mining
area		 Minimum 26.36 44.79 49.01 39.92 104.00 0.03 0.04 0.94
Maximum 156.58 186.23 334.21 112.33 276.42 0.21 0.64 8.11
Average 50.22 91.31 120.67 60.96 146.69 0.10 0.16 4.65
CV (%) 58.45 42.36 53.62 30.55 28.95 45.96 92.00 46.96
Commercial
area		 Minimum 32.75 48.72 75.52 27.85 75.26 0.03 0.06 1.00
Maximum 73.50 121.01 200.05 128.11 197.05 0.18 0.57 8.09
Average 47.24 76.01 110.82 62.63 152.08 0.11 0.13 4.83
CV (%) 27.03 31.90 29.74 33.14 25.02 31.74 94.97 46.60
Residential
area		 Minimum 27.16 51.86 44.56 43.63 87.58 0.03 0.04 0.73
Maximum 57.52 136.73 510.16 77.98 186.79 0.15 0.24 8.28
Average 39.20 95.24 103.77 62.32 127.95 0.07 0.09 4.10
CV (%) 17.93 28.35 106.10 13.79 25.96 50.56 53.56 64.62
Green
space area		 Minimum 20.00 38.50 40.17 31.56 106.74 0.02 0.03 1.38
Maximum 51.93 207.45 141.40 77.05 1095.42 0.21 0.16 6.22
Average 40.16 101.63 87.36 60.84 237.28 0.09 0.06 2.88
CV (%) 22.30 39.48 28.35 24.45 100.42 64.24 48.63 57.24
Distribution pattern L N L L L L L L
Background value of Liaoning Provincea 19.80 25.60 63.50 21.40 57.90 0.11 0.04 8.80
Table 1 Concentrations of heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Fig. 2 Geochemical baseline values calculated by the box-whisker method
Fig. 3 Geochemical baseline values calculated by the cumulative frequency curve
Element Al Fe Ti Rb Regression equation R2 P
Cu -0.256* 0.272* -0.340** -0.200 y= -59.97x+70.54 0.99 0.00
Ni 0.073 0.314** 0.132 -0.007 y= -27.12x+5.65 0.92 0.00
Zn -0.444** 0.093 -0.268* -0.284* y= -31.05x+320.33 0.98 0.00
Pb 0.057 0.079 0.315** 0.042 y= -15.08x+52.60 0.89 0.01
Cr 0.107 0.566** 0.275* -0.016 y= -52.81x-7.97 0.98 0.00
Cd -0.457** 0.016 -0.278* -0.321** y= -0.04x+0.38 0.97 0.00
Hg -0.306** -0.265* -0.108 -0.038 y= -0.03x+0.29 0.96 0.00
As -0.179 0.060 -0.328** -0.148 y= -16.52x+11.28 0.99 0.00
Table 2 Correlation coefficients and regression equations of inert element and active element
Element Cumulative frequency curve Reference metal normalization
(mg/kg)		 Box-
Whisker
(mg/kg)		 Iteration removal
(mg/kg)		 Final
value
(mg/kg)		 Background value of Liaoning Province (mg/kg)
First
bend
(mg/kg)		 Second
bend
(mg/kg)		 Baseline value
(mg/kg)
Cu 59.25 44.93 42.08 44.93 42.34 42.08 42.86 19.80
Ni 97.50 93.06 84.62 93.06 92.33 87.35 89.34 25.60
Zn 110.00 105.47 87.87 105.47 86.77 88.82 92.23 63.50
Pb 50.25 59.09 58.73 59.09 60.80 63.56 60.55 21.40
Cr 141.00 161.51 140.01 161.51 141.63 137.69 145.21 57.90
Cd 0.10 0.11 0.09 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.09 0.11
Hg 0.09 0.10 0.07 0.10 0.07 0.07 0.08 0.04
As 7.30 4.25 3.88 4.25 4.95 3.58 4.17 8.80
Table 3 Geochemical baseline values computed by various methods in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Sampling site Cu
(mg/kg)		 Ni
(mg/kg)		 Zn
(mg/kg)		 Pb
(mg/kg)		 Cr
(mg/kg)		 Cd
(mg/kg)		 Hg
(mg/kg)		 As
(mg/kg)		 Reference
Baotou, Inner Mongolia 20.37 17.98 61.42 23.52 118.47 - - 8.65 Zhu et al. (2016)
Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia 26.46 29.16 76.71 29.07 124.37 - - 16.09 Zhu et al. (2016)
Dexing, Jiangxi 58.90 - 138.54 54.61 72.87 0.37 0.100 14.00 Liu et al. (2014)
Urumqi, Xinjiang 94.54 43.28 294.47 53.53 54.28 1.17 - - Wei et al. (2010)
Zigong, Sichuan 23.10 24.50 62.00 28.20 66.40 0.18 0.037 3.86 Li et al. (2012)
Chengdu, Sichuan - 32.00 535.00 281.00 110.00 2.94 0.630 28.60 Shi et al. (2012)
Tongling, Anhui 47.70 25.20 113.00 39.00 73.50 0.33 0.051 24.30 Jia et al. (2019)
Suzhou, Anhui 16.97 - 48.66 19.43 65.22 - - 9.07 Gao et al. (2018)
Yanzhou, Shandong 34.34 33.27 89.86 27.39 75.27 0.14 0.069 7.77 Zhang (2007)
Fuxin, Liaoning 42.86 89.34 92.23 60.55 145.21 0.09 0.080 4.17 This study
Table 4 Comparison of geochemical baseline value with other literature
Fig. 4 Pi (contamination index) values for heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Functional area PN value RI value
Range Mean Rating range Range Mean Rating range
Whole study area 0.80-9.56 1.96 Precaution-seriously 56.63-483.98 131.54 Low-considerable
Traffic area 1.12-9.56 2.93 Slightly-seriously 77.39-483.98 186.78 Moderately-considerable
Industrial mining area 1.11-6.09 2.04 Slightly-seriously 95.49-381.92 148.22 Low-considerable
Commercial area 1.11-5.33 1.66 Slightly-seriously 89.26-324.03 132.03 Low-considerable
Residential area 1.10-4.07 1.53 Slightly-seriously 63.59-154.11 98.54 Low-moderately
Green space area 0.80-5.50 1.64 Precaution-seriously 56.63-159.19 92.12 Low-moderately
Table 5 PN (Nemerow index) and RI (Hakanson potential ecological risk index) values for heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Fig. 5 Spatial distribution of PN (Nemerow index) value in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Fig. 6 Spatial distribution of RI (Hakanson potential ecological risk index) value in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City
Fig. 7 Pedigree clustering heatmap of heavy metals in the urban topsoil of Fuxin City. The color key represents a weighted value of each element concentration. A high color key value represents the severe enrichment (such as red), whereas a low value represents the low enrichment (such as purple).
[1]   Beiseyeva G, Abuduwali J. 2013. Migration and accumulation of heavy metals in disturbed landscapes in developing ore deposits, East Kazakhstan. Journal of Arid Land, 5(2):180-187.
doi: 10.1007/s40333-013-0160-4
[2]   Birke M, Rauch U. 1993. Environmental aspects of the regional geochemical survey in the southern part of East Germany. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 49(1-2):35-61.
[3]   Cai L M, Xu Z C, Ren M Z, et al. 2012. Source identification of eight hazardous heavy metals in agricultural soils of Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 78:2-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2011.07.004 pmid: 22257794
[4]   Chen X D, Lu X W, Yang G. 2012. Sources identification of heavy metals in urban topsoil from inside the xi'an second ringroad, NW China using multivariate statistical methods. CATENA, 98:73-78.
[5]   China National Environment Monitoring Centre (CNEMC). 1990. The Background Values of Elements in Chinese Soils. Beijing: Environmental Science Press, 330-460. (in Chinese)
[6]   Cong X, Lei X T, Fu L, et al. 2017. Pollution characteristics and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in soils around the Gangue heap of Haizhou Coal Mine, China. Earth and Environment, 45(3):329-335. (in Chinese)
[7]   Covelli S, Fontolan G. 1997. Application of a normalization procedure in determining regional geochemical baselines. Environmental Geology, 30(1-2):34-45.
[8]   Darnley A G. 1997. A global geochemical reference network: the foundation for geochemical baselines. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 60(1):1-5.
[9]   Fan K, Wei C Y, Yang X S. 2014. Geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the soils of Qiaokou Town, Changsha City and its application. Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae, 34(12):3076-3083. (in Chinese)
[10]   Gao Y, Xu D S, Li Q. 2018. A study on environmental geochemical baselines of heavy metals in the surficial soil of Suzhou. Earth and Environment, 46(5):444-450. (in Chinese)
[11]   Hakanson L. 1980. An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control: A sediment ecological approach. Water Research, 14(8):975-1001.
[12]   Han L F, Gao B, Hao H, et al. 2019. Arsenic pollution of sediments in China: An assessment by geochemical baseline. Science of the Total Environment, 651:1983-1991.
[13]   Jiang J K, Hao J M, Wu Y, et al. 2005. Development of mercury emission inventory from coal combustion in China. Environmental Science, 26(2):34-39. (in Chinese)
[14]   Li A, Shi Z M, Ni S J. 2012. Geochemical baseline and contamination of heavy metals in soil of Zigong Longtanzhen, Sichuan Province. Computing Techniques for Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 34(4):470-474. (in Chinese)
[15]   Li Y X, Xu L C, Xiong X, et al. 2007. The spatial structure feature of heavy metals in agricultural soil of mining city: A case study of Fuxin, China. Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae, 27(4):679-687. (in Chinese)
[16]   Li Y X, Xiong X, Lin C Y, et al. 2010. Cadmium in animal production and its potential hazard on Beijing and Fuxin farmlands. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 177(1-3):475-480.
pmid: 20060219
[17]   Li Z C, Sun L H, Chen S. 2016. Geochemical baseline of heavy metals in the river sediment in coal production cities and its application-A case study of Suzhou City, China. Earth and Environment, 44(4):462-471. (in Chinese)
[18]   Lian M H, Wang J, Sun L N, et al. 2019. Profiles and potential health risks of heavy metals in soil and crops from the watershed of Xi River in Northeast China. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 169:442-448.
pmid: 30471581
[19]   Liu J P, Zhao Y Y, Xue Q, et al. 2014. A genetic analysis of soil heavy metals accumulation characteristics of the Dawu River basin in the Dexing Copper Mine, Jiangxi Province. Geological Bulletin of China, 33(8):1154-1166. (in Chinese)
[20]   Lü J S, He H C. 2018. Identifying the origins and spatial distribution of heavy metals in the soils of Jiangsu coast. Environmental Science, 39(6):351-362. (in Chinese)
[21]   Lu X Z, Gu A Q, Zhang Y W, et al. 2019. Sources and risk assessment of heavy metal in agricultural soils based on the environmental geochemical baselines. Acta Pedologica Sinica, 56(2):408-419. (in Chinese)
[22]   Ministry of Environmental Protection of China. 2004. The Technical Specification for Soil Environmental Monitoring (HJ/T166-2004). Beijing: China Environmental Science Press, 7-14. (in Chinese)
[23]   Nemerow N L. 1974. Scientific Stream Pollution Analysis. New York: Scripta Book Co., 210-231.
[24]   Newman B K, Watling R J. 2007. Definition of baseline metal concentrations for assessing metal enrichment of sediment from the south-eastern cape coastline of South Africa. Water SA, 33(5):675-691.
[25]   Plant J, Smith D, Smith B, et al. 2000. Environmental geochemistry at the global scale. Journal of the Geological Society, 16(11-12):1291-1308.
[26]   Rattenbury M, Martin A, Baisden T, et al. 2018. Geochemical baseline soil surveys for understanding element and isotope variation across New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 61(3):347-357.
[27]   Reimann C, Filzmoser P. 2000. Normal and lognormal data distribution in geochemistry: death of a myth. Consequences for the statistical treatment of geochemical and environmental data. Environmental Geology, 39(9):1001-1014.
[28]   Reimann C, Filzmoser P, Garrett R G. 2005. Background and threshold: critical comparison of methods of determination. Science of the Total Environment, 346(1-3):1-16.
[29]   Salminen R, Tarvainen T. 1997. The problem of defining geochemical baselines: A case study of selected elements and geological materials in Finland. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 60(1):91-98.
doi: 10.1016/S0375-6742(97)00028-9
[30]   Salminen R, Gregorauskien V. 2000. Considerations regarding the definition of a geochemical baseline of elements in the surficial materials in areas differing in basic geology. Applied Geochemistry, 15(5):647-653.
[31]   Shi M Z, Ni S J, Zhang C J, et al. 2012. The geochemical baseline of near-ground arid dust in Chengdu economic region. Geological Bulletin of China, 31(1):90-96. (in Chinese)
[32]   Siegel F R. 1995. Environmental geochemistry in development planning: an example from the Nile Delta, Egypt. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 55(1-3):265-273.
[33]   Teng Y G, Tuo X G, Ni S J, et al. 2003. Approach of determining geochemical baselines: A study case from Panzhihua region. Journal of Chengdu University of Technology: Science & Technology Edition, 30(4):422-428. (in Chinese)
[34]   Teng Y G, Ni S J, Wang J S, et al. 2009. Geochemical baseline of trace elements in the sediment in Dexing area, South China. Environmental Geology, 57(7):1649-1660.
[35]   Tian K, Huang B, Xing Z, et al. 2017. Geochemical baseline establishment and ecological risk evaluation of heavy metals in greenhouse soils from Dongtai, China. Ecological Indicators, 72:510-520.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.08.037
[36]   Tidball R R, Ebens R J. 1976. Regional geochemical baselines in soils of the Powder River Basin, Montana-Wyoming. In: 28th Annual Field Conference Guidebook, 299.
[37]   Wang S H, Wang W W, Chen J Y, et al. 2019. Geochemical baseline establishment and pollution source determination of heavy metals in lake sediments: A case study in Lihu Lake, China. Science of the Total Environment, 657:978-986.
[38]   Wang W, Lai Y S, Ma Y Y, et al. 2016. Heavy metal contamination of urban topsoil in a petrochemical industrial city in Xinjiang, China. Journal of Arid Land, 8(6):871-880.
[39]   Wei B G, Jiang F Q, Li X M, et al. 2010. Heavy metal induced ecological risk in the city of Urumqi, NW China. Environmental Monitoring & Assessment, 160:33-45.
doi: 10.1007/s10661-008-0655-1 pmid: 19067204
[40]   Wei C Y, Wen H L. 2012. Geochemical baselines of heavy metals in the sediments of two large freshwater lakes in China: implications for contamination character and history. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 34(6):737-748.
doi: 10.1007/s10653-012-9492-9 pmid: 23001472
[41]   Wei F S, Cheng J S, Wu Y Y, et al. 1991. Study on the background contents on 61 elements of soils in China. Environmental Science, 12(4):12-19. (in Chinese)
[42]   Wilkinson L, Friendly M. 2009. The history of the cluster heat map. American Statistician, 63(2):179-184.
[43]   Xue Z B, Li L, Zhang S K, et al. 2018. Comparative study between Nemerow index method and compound index method for the risk assessment of soil heavy metal pollution. Science of Soil and Water Conservation, 16(2):119-125. (in Chinese)
[44]   Zhang M X, Lu X W, Shi D Q, et al. 2018. Toxic metal enrichment characteristics and sources of arid urban surface soil in Yinchuan City, China. Journal of Arid Land, 10(4):653-662.
[45]   Zhang P. 2007. Study and application of environmental geochemical baseline in coal mining area. Shandong University of Science and Technology, 21-41. (in Chinese)
[46]   Zhang S R, Wang C Y, Liu J H, et al. 2020. Assessment of heavy metal pollution and ecological risk in soils of the southwestern Part of the Xiongan New Area. Earth Science Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.7.1. (in Chinese)
[47]   Zhang W, Yi Y L, Cheng X L, et al. 2010. Dust fall amount and contents of heavy metals in dustfall in Fuxin City. Southwest China. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 23(1):201-205. (in Chinese)
[48]   Zhang X Z, Yang Z H, Ma Z S, et al. 2006. Geochemical background and geochemical baseline. Geological Bulletin of China, 25(5):626-629. (in Chinese)
[49]   Zhao X L, Sun J, Li J H, et al. 2017. Pollution evaluation and health risk of heavy metals in atmospheric deposition in Fuxin City. Research of Environmental Sciences, 30(9):1346-1354. (in Chinese)
[50]   Zhou J W, Zhou J Y, Dai L, et al. 2019. Establishment of topsoil geochemical baseline value in the concentrated mining area of the Lala Copper Ore, China. Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 50(2):427-436. (in Chinese)
[51]   Zhu X D, Wei C Y, Yang F. 2016. Determination of heavy metal baseline in Baotou and Bayan Obo and its application in the assessment of heavy metal contamination. Journal of Natural Resources, 31(2):310-320. (in Chinese)
[1] ZHANG Zhaoyong, GUO Jieyi, WANG Pengwei. Occurrence, sources, and relationships of soil microplastics with adsorbed heavy metals in the Ebinur Lake Basin, Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(8): 910-924.
[2] Zheng LIU, Zhongren NAN, Chuanyan ZHAO, Yang YANG. Potato absorption and phytoavailability of Cd, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb in sierozem soils amended with municipal sludge compost[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2018, 10(4): 638-652.
[3] ZhuanJun ZHAO, ZhongRen NAN, ZhaoWei WANG, YiMing YANG, Masayuki SHIMIZU. Interaction between Cd and Pb in the soil-plant system: a case study of an arid oasis soil-cole system[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2014, 6(1): 59-68.
[4] Gulzhan BEISEYEVA, Jilili ABUDUWALI. Migration and accumulation of heavy metals in disturbed landscapes in developing ore deposits, East Kazakhstan[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2013, 5(2): 180-187.