Estimation of As and Cu Contamination in Agricultural Soils Around a Mining Area by Reflectance Spectroscopy: A Case Study

Abstract

Concentrations of Iron (Fe), As, and Cu in soil samples from the fields near the Baoshan Mine in Hunan Province, China, were analyzed and soil spectral reflectance was measured with an ASD FieldSpec FR spectroradiometer (Analytical Spectral Devices, Inc., USA) under laboratory condition. Partial least square regression (PLSR) models were constructed for predicting soil metal concentrations. The data pre-processing methods, first and second derivatives (FD and SD), baseline correction (BC), standard normal variate (SNV), multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), and continuum removal (CR), were used for the spectral reflectance data pretreatments. Then, the prediction results were evaluated by relative root mean square error (RRMSE) and coefficients of determination ( R 2). According to the criteria of minimal RRMSE and maximal R 2, the PLSR models with the FD pretreatment (RRMSE = 0.24, R 2 = 0.61), SNV pretreatment (RRMSE = 0.08, R 2 = 0.78), and BC-pretreatment (RRMSE = 0.20, R 2 = 0.41) were considered as the final models for predicting As, Fe, and Cu, respectively. Wavebands at around 460, 1 400, 1 900, and 2 200 nm were selected as important spectral variables to construct final models. In conclusion, concentrations of heavy metals in contaminated soils could be indirectly assessed by soil spectra according to the correlation between the spectrally featureless components and Fe; therefore, spectral reflectance would be an alternative tool for monitoring soil heavy metals contamination.