Adsorption and pH Values Determine the Distribution of Cadmium in Terrestrial and Marine Soils in the Nansha Area, Pearl River Delta

Fangting Wang, Ke Bao, Changsheng Huang, Xinwen Zhao, Wenjing Han and Zhibin Yin
Additional contact information
Fangting Wang: Wuhan Geological Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Wuhan 430205, China
Ke Bao: Safety Center for River and Lake Protection, Construction and Operation, Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, Wuhan 430015, China
Changsheng Huang: Wuhan Geological Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Wuhan 430205, China
Xinwen Zhao: Wuhan Geological Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Wuhan 430205, China
Wenjing Han: Geological Survey Research Institute, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhibin Yin: Geological Survey Research Institute, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Cadmium is a toxic element with a half-life of several decades, which can accumulate in the human body by entering the food chain and seriously harm health. The cadmium adsorption and desorption processes in the soil directly affect the migration, transformation, bioavailability, and ecotoxicity of this element in soil-plant systems. Coastal zones are located in the transitional zone between land and sea, and large amounts of terrigenous material input have important environmental effects on this ecosystem. The pH, hydrodynamic conditions, soil organic matter (SOM), and other factors defining the sea-land interaction within the sedimentary environment are significantly different from those defining land facies. In order to study the key factors affecting cadmium adsorption in soils at the sea-land interface in the Nansha area of the Pearl River Delta, a test was conducted on a column of undisturbed soil. The results showed that the adsorption constant K F and the Cd 2+ adsorption capacity of marine soils were higher than those of terrestrial soils. However, the saturation adsorption of cadmium in terrestrial sediments was higher than in marine sediments. Soil pH was an important factor affecting cadmium adsorption capacity in both terrestrial and ma-rine sediments. Neutral and alkaline topsoil conditions inhibited the vertical migration of cadmium, while the acidic environment favored it. The higher the clay and SOM were, the stronger the Cd 2+ adsorption capacity of the soil was. These findings suggest that the distribution of cadmium in marine and continental sedimentary soils is not only related to adsorption, but also to the physical and chemical processes occurring in different sedimentary environments.

Keywords: cadmium contamination; soil pH; isothermal adsorption experiment; adsorption kinetic experiment; longitudinal migration; the Pearl River Delta (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/793/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/793/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:793-:d:722532

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().