Environmental Risk Evaluation and Source Identification of Heavy Metal(loid)s in Agricultural Soil of Shangdan Valley, Northwest China

Sukai Zhuang and Xinwei Lu
Additional contact information
Sukai Zhuang: Department of Environmental Science, School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Xinwei Lu: Department of Environmental Science, School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: To understand the environmental quality and heavy metal(loid) pollution of farmlands in Shangdan Valley, the contents of macroelements (Na, K, Si, Mg, Ca, Al, Fe, Ti, P, S, Cl, Br) and heavy metal(loid)s (Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Ni, V, Co, Cr, As) were surveyed by the X-ray fluorescence method. The pollution degree and ecological risk of the heavy metal(loid)s were judged by the Nemerow synthetic pollution index, geo-accumulation index, and potential ecological risk index, and their sources were identified by the multivariate statistic method. The mean contents of nine heavy metal(loid)s in Shangdan Valley farmland soil exceeded their corresponding reference values. Soils were not contaminated with As, Cr, Mn, and Ni but were slightly contaminated with Co, Cu, Pb, V, and Zn. Their comprehensive pollution levels were moderate to serious. The ecological risk index of single heavy metal(loid) decreased in the sequence As > Pb > Co > Cu > Ni > V > Zn > Cr > Mn. The source analysis results indicated that Cu, Pb, Zn, and As were highly affected by anthropogenic inputs, e.g., metal smelting and agricultural activities, while Mn, Ni, Cr, and V were principally derived from a natural source. As for Co, it was affected by a mixture source of nature, fossil fuel combustion, and fertilizer.

Keywords: agricultural soil; heavy metal(loid); ecological risk; source identification; pollution evaluation; multivariate statistical analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5806/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5806/ (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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5806-:d:386779

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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