Abstract
The presence of toxic elements in agricultural soils from anthropogenic activities is a potential threat to human health through the food chain. In this study, the concentration of toxic elements in 122 agricultural topsoil composite samples were determined in order to study the current status, identify their sources and assess the level of pollution and human health risk. The results showed that the mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Hg and As in the farmland topsoil were 21.72, 15.09, 36.08, 0.2451, 0.0378 and 4.957 mg·kg−1, respectively. The spatial distribution showed that the soils were mainly contaminated by Cd, Pb and Hg in midwest Jilin but by Cu and As in the east. According to the pollution index (Pi), Nemerow integrated pollution index (PN) and Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo), Cd and Pb were the main pollutants in the soils. The occurrence of these elements was caused by anthropogenic activities and they were concentrated in the Songyuan-Changchun-Siping economic belt. There is limited non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risk to humans. Principal component analyses suggest the Pb, Cd and Hg soil contamination was mainly derived from anthropogenic activities in the Midwest, but all examined toxic elements in the east were mainly due to geogenic anomalies and came from atmospheric deposition.
Highlights
Soil, a non-renewable resource, is the foremost constituent of the farmland environment, hosting the agricultural production activities due to its unique characteristics [1,2], resulting from the transformation of natural regolith [3]
Most mean values of the metals were lower than the background values of Jilin Province soil [40] and the Natural Environmental Quality Standard values for soils in China [38], which allows us to state that toxic elements concentration in most of studied soils were at safe levels
Six toxic elements were analyzed in 122 composite samples collected from farmland in Jilin Province
Summary
A non-renewable resource, is the foremost constituent of the farmland environment, hosting the agricultural production activities due to its unique characteristics [1,2], resulting from the transformation of natural regolith [3]. Farmland topsoil differs from natural soil because it is strongly shaped by agricultural practices, and has a direct influence on food quality and safety [4,5,6,7]. Farmland soil accumulates most of the generated pollutants, especially toxic elements, due to its good absorbability [8,9]. The accumulation of toxic elements will have harmful effects, deteriorating the farmland soil and threatening ecological resources [12,13], and toxic elements can remain in farmland for decades [14]. Long-term concentration of toxic elements can affect human health
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