Spatial Distribution, Sources Apportionment and Health Risk of Metals in Topsoil in Beijing, China

Chunyuan Sun, Wenji Zhao, Qianzhong Zhang, Xue Yu, Xiaoxia Zheng, Jiayin Zhao and Ming Lv
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Chunyuan Sun: Urban Environmental Process and Digital Modeling Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
Wenji Zhao: Urban Environmental Process and Digital Modeling Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
Qianzhong Zhang: Urban Environmental Process and Digital Modeling Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
Xue Yu: Urban Environmental Process and Digital Modeling Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
Xiaoxia Zheng: Urban Environmental Process and Digital Modeling Laboratory, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
Jiayin Zhao: College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Ming Lv: Medical Engineering Department, The General Hospital of Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces, Beijing 100039, China

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: In order to acquire the pollution feature and regularities of distribution of metals in the topsoil within the sixth ring road in Beijing, a total of 46 soil samples were collected, and the concentrations of twelve elements (Nickel, Ni, Lithium, Li, Vanadium, V, Cobalt, Co, Barium, Ba, Strontium, Sr, Chrome, Cr, Molybdenum, Mo, Copper, Cu, Cadmium, Cd, Zinc, Zn, Lead, Pb) were analyzed. Geostatistics and multivariate statistics were conducted to identify spatial distribution characteristics and sources. In addition, the health risk of the analyzed heavy metals to humans (adult) was evaluated by an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency health risk assessment model. The results indicate that these metals have notable variation in spatial scale. The concentration of Cr was high in the west and low in the east, while that of Mo was high in the north and low in the south. High concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Pb were found in the central part of the city. The average enrichment degree of Cd is 5.94, reaching the standard of significant enrichment. The accumulation of Cr, Mo, Cu, Cd, Zn, and Pb is influenced by anthropogenic activity, including vehicle exhaustion, coal burning, and industrial processes. Health risk assessment shows that both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of selected heavy metals are within the safety standard and the rank of the carcinogenic risk of the four heavy metals is Cr > Co > Ni > Cd.

Keywords: urban topsoil; metals; spatial analysis; source analysis; health risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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