Evaluation of accumulation and concentration of heavy metals in different urban roadside soil types in Miranda Park, Sydney

Abstract

Purpose The overall objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between the concentrations of heavy metals such as Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd in roadside soil derived from three different geological parent materials, Hawkesbury Sandstone, Wianamatta Shale, and Mittagong Formation and also to examine the influence of rainfall events on heavy metal concentrations in both the topsoil and the subsoil in all three soil types. In this paper, the focus is on lead and zinc. Materials and methods The results obtained from the samples taken from an initial transect were used to select the location of the study sites. Soil samples were collected using a stainless steel auger at distances of 1, 5, and 10 m from the edge of two major roads of similar traffic volumes bordering a suburban park. At each of five study sites, samples were collected at depths of 0-10 and 10-30 cm, three times pre-rainfall (after extended periods of no rain) and three times post-rainfall (after intensive rainfall periods). The modified aqua regia digestion method was applied for heavy metal concentrations measurement. To determine the temporal dynamics of trace elements in the soils, sequential extractions were applied to all the topsoil samples according to the modified three-step sequential extraction procedure. Results and discussion The corresponding concentrations of Pb and Zn were different for the soil derived from Hawkesbury Sandstone and Wianamatta Shale and also Mittagong Formation. The highest concentration of Pb was in the soil from Wianamatta Shale, 159.32 mg/kg and the highest concentration of Zn was in the soil from the Mittagong Formation, 254.12 mg/kg, all at a distance of 1 m from the roadside. From the sequential chemical extraction results, the rainfall substantially influenced the exchangeable fraction (F1) of Pb at a distance from the road of 1 m. A significant reduction of F1 was found for the soil derived from Mittagong Formation which also had the most significant reduction of total Zn concentration. Conclusions The interpretation of the results showed that there was a clear correlation between the concentration of Pb and Zn with the distance from the roadside and depth in all soil types. However, the results also showed that there are variable concentrations between the soil types. The heavy metal concentrations at the same distance for the three soil types are different. The rainfall events do influence the heavy metal concentration differently in both topsoil and subsoil of the three soil types at the same distance from the roadside.

Spatial heterogeneity of heavy metal contamination in soils and plants in Hefei, China

“…We found that Cd content, and to a lesser degree, Pd contents in soil decreased with the distance to city center across a range of greenbelt types. While it is well recognized that heavy metals contaminations are spatially variable in urban districts 3,7,10,12,32,37,38 , our finding indicates that the extent of soil heavy metal contamination increases with urbanization age. The higher population density, coupled with more traffic and more wastes, shall also a contributor to higher soil contamination in city centers.…”

“…Recent advances have been made in the understanding of the soil contamination of heavy metals 5–7 as well as annual variations in both industrial and urban soils 3 . Zhao and Hazelton 7 showed apparent correlations between the contents of Pb and Zn with the distance from the roadside and depth in three soil types in Miranda Park, Sydney. The highest Pb contamination often occurs in the top (0–20 cm) soil layer near roadsides in Warsaw, Poland 6 .…”

“…Pb and Cd have high chemical activity in soil, which translates to the easy absorption by plants and ultimately threatens human health through the food chain 7,11,12 . For example, the contents of heavy metals in mulberry fruit are strongly correlated with the effective contents of Pb, Cr, Co, Zn, Mn, Cu, and Ni in the soil 13 .…”

Using Fractionation Profile of Potentially Toxic Elements in Soils to Investigate Their Accumulation in Tilia sp. Leaves in Urban Areas with Different Pollution Levels

“…This, coupled with negative environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities in urban areas (industrial activity, traffic, and energy use), causes densely populated urban areas in Europe to face environmental health challenges, including air pollution and contamination of water and soils. Pollution in urban soils has been recognized as one of the major concerns at local, regional, and global levels due to the impacts of the soil contaminants on human health as well as their disruption to the geochemical cycling of the urban ecosystems [3,4]. Contamination by the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) also causes environmental issues related to the toxicity, abundance, persistence, and bio-accumulative character of these compounds [5,6].…”

Preface

“…The 12 papers present in this issue cover a number of important topics related to urban soils and sediments, such as soil formation (Burghardt and von Berhrab 2016), structure amelioration (Zimmermann et al 2016), spatial and temporal water dynamics (Wiesner et al 2016), human impact on urban park soils (Sarah et al 2016;Zhao and Hazelton 2016), the application of spectroscopy to urban soil studies (Kopel et al 2016), green roof soils (Jelinkova et al 2016), urban streamflow regimes (Ferreira et al 2016a), and the transport of sediments, heavy metals, and polychlorinated biphenyl in urban areas runoff (Dias-Ferreira et al 2016;Ferreira et al 2016b, c;Silveira et al 2016). This volume presents the latest research and case studies from several urban areas located in Europe, America, Australia, and Asia, contributing to the knowledge of urban soil and sediment dynamics at the international level.…”