Abstract
The characterization of the concentrations and sources of metals and metalloids in soils is necessary to establish quality standards on a regional level and to assess the potential threat of metals to food safety and human health. A total of 8713 soil samples throughout Hainan Island, China were collected at a density of one sample per 4 km2, and concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn were analyzed. The geometric mean values of the elements were 2.17, 0.60, 26.5, 9.43, 0.033, 8.74, 22.2, 0.26, and 39.6 mg·· kg−1 for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn, respectively, significantly lower than the background values of Chinese soils with the exception of Se. Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that multiple anthropogenic sources regulated the elemental compositions of the Hainan environment. Coal combustion and mining are important anthropogenic sources of metals for Hainan. The geochemical maps of elements in Hainan soils were produced using the Geographic Information System (GIS) method, and several hot-spot areas were identified. The ecological impact of As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Pb, Ni, and Zn pollution to the soils was extremely “low”.
Highlights
With the rapid industrial development, population expansion, and insufficiency of pollution control, soil trace metal contamination is increasingly becoming a global problem at private as well as governmental levels, especially as soils constitute a crucial component of rural and urban environments [1,2] which can be considered as an important “ecological crossroad” in the landscape [3,4].Trace metals in soils and dusts can be accumulated in the human body via direct inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact absorption [5,6,7,8] or via the soil-crop system [9,10]
The metal(loid)s showed a wide variety of concentrations
The geometric mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn were 2.17, 0.06, 26.5, 9.43, 0.033, 8.74, 22.2, 0.26, and 39.6 mg·kg−1, respectively, which were significantly lower than the background values of Chinese soils [19,29], except for Se
Summary
With the rapid industrial development, population expansion, and insufficiency of pollution control, soil trace metal contamination is increasingly becoming a global problem at private as well as governmental levels, especially as soils constitute a crucial component of rural and urban environments [1,2] which can be considered as an important “ecological crossroad” in the landscape [3,4]. In recent decades, this once-clean region has received notable anthropogenic the country. There are in ecosystems including urban, agricultural, and mining areas. Metals and metalloids three types of ecosystems including urban, agricultural, and mining areas. Metals and the soils of different ecosystems from Hainan Island were studied for the purpose of monitoring the metalloids in the soils of different ecosystems from Hainan Island were studied for the purpose of impact of human activities on the ecosystems.
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