Abstract
Metal(loid) pollution in vegetable field soils has become increasingly severe and affects the safety of vegetable crops. Research in China has mainly focused on greenhouse vegetables (GV), while open field vegetables (OV) and the spatial distribution patterns of metal(loid)s in the surrounding soils have rarely been assessed. In the present study, spatial analysis methods combining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Moran’s I were applied to analyze the effects of vegetable fields on metal(loid) accumulation in soils. Overall, vegetable fields affected the spatial distribution of metal(loid)s in soils. In long-term vegetable production, the use of large amounts of organic fertilizer led to the bioconcentration of cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), and long-term fertilization resulted in a significant pH decrease and consequent transformation and migration of chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and arsenic (As). Thus, OV fields with a long history of planting had lower average pH and Cd, and higher average As, Cr, Hg, and Pb than GV fields, reached 0.93%, 10.1%, 5.8%, 3.0%, 80.8%, and 0.43% respectively. Due to the migration and transformation of metal(loid)s in OV soils, these should be further investigated regarding their abilities to reduce the accumulation of metal(loid)s in soils and protect the quality of the cultivated land.
Highlights
The term “metal(loid)s” represents both metals and metalloids
Metal(loid) pollution in agricultural soils has become an urgent issue worldwide. This is of particular concern in China due to its rapid economic growth over the past 40 years, and metal(loid) pollution in soils is being considered of high-risk to the environment and human health [1]; the consequential environmental problems have received widespread attention [2]
The coefficient of variation can only qualitatively reflect the overall level of soil attributes and their changing trends but cannot reflect changes in their spatial characteristics
Summary
The term “metal(loid)s” represents both metals and metalloids. Metal(loid) accumulation can lead to the contamination of surface water, groundwater, organisms, sediments, and oceans. Metal(loid) pollution in agricultural soils has become an urgent issue worldwide. This is of particular concern in China due to its rapid economic growth over the past 40 years, and metal(loid) pollution in soils is being considered of high-risk to the environment and human health [1]; the consequential environmental problems have received widespread attention [2]. Natural sources include rock components [6,7,8], soil parent material [9], and atmospheric sediments from soil formation processes, and these are concentrated in soils after weathering and leaching, attaining high geological background values. Human activities mainly comprise industrial activities such as mining, industrial emissions, coal combustion, point source emissions [10,11,12,13,14,15], agricultural production from the long-term and massive application of fertilizers [16,17], and life activities
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