Soil mercury accumulation, spatial distribution and its source identification in an industrial area of the Yangtze Delta, China

Zhang, Yanxia; Wang, Mei; Huang, Biao; Akhtar, M. A.; Hu, Wenyou; Xie, Enze

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.07.055

Cited by 37 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In addition to organic matter, proximity to pollution sites was also another driver of the variation Hg enrichment in the studied shale-derived soils. Total Hg concentrations at Sites 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were comparable to the range of values reported by previous studies on non-point-source-polluted forested soils in North America (e.g., Obrist et al, 2011;Richardson & Friedland, 2015;Richardson et al, 2013), temperate and subtropical China (Luo et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2018), and temperate Europe (Schwesig & Matzner, 2001). However, Sites 2 and 3 had total Hg concentrations in surface soils comparable to those on the lower end of point-source-polluted areas such as soils near artisanal gold mining (e.g., 70-420 ng/g soils in French Guiana studied by Guedron et al, 2006), coalfired power plant in Spain (1-7560 ng/g Martin & Nanos, 2016), and soils near metropolitan areas in China (e.g., 110-2178 ng/g in Shi et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2018) and metropolitan areas in the northeastern USA (68 to 712 ng/g Richardson & Moore, 2020).…”

Section: Sequestration Of Atmospheric Hgsupporting

confidence: 87%

Shale weathering profiles show Hg sequestration along a New York–Tennessee transect

Richardson

2021

Environ Geochem Health

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Shale-derived soils have higher clay, organic matter, and secondary Fe oxide content than other bedrock types, all of which can sequester Hg. However, shales also can be Hg-rich due to their marine formation. The objectives of this study were to determine the concentration and phase partitioning of Hg in seven upland weathering profiles from New York to Tennessee USA and use geochemical normalization techniques to estimate the extent of Hg inheritance from weathering of shale bedrock or sequestration of atmospheric Hg. Total Hg concentrations in unweathered shale ranged from 3 to 94 ng/g. Total Hg concentrations decreased with depth in the Ultisols and Alfisols, with total Hg concentrations ranging from 18 to 265 ng/g. Across all shale soils and rocks, the oxidizable fraction of Hg (15% H 2 O 2 extraction) comprised a large portion of the total Hg at 68% ± 8%. This fraction was dominated by organic matter as confirmed with positive correlations between Hg and %LOI, but could also be impacted by Hg sulfides. Across all sites, the reducible fraction of Hg (citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite extraction) was only 10% ± 4% of the total Hg on average. Thus, secondary Fe oxides did not contain a significant portion of Hg, as commonly observed in tropical soils. Although colder sites had a higher organic matter and sequestered more Hg, s values for Hg indexed to Ti suggest that atmospheric deposition, such as pollution sources in Ohio River Valley, drove the highest enrichment of Hg along the transect. These results demonstrate that shale-derived soils have a net accumulation and retention of atmospheric Hg, primarily through stabilization by organic matter.

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Section: Sequestration Of Atmospheric Hgsupporting

confidence: 87%

Shale weathering profiles show Hg sequestration along a New York–Tennessee transect

Richardson

2021

Environ Geochem Health

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“…Research has shown that livestock manure and its processed products (organic fertilizers) contain higher levels of Cu and Zn, contributing significantly to the accumulation of heavy metals in farmland soils 44 . The use of fertilizers and pesticides has been shown to lead to the accumulation of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Hg to some extent 7 , 45 – 48 . Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cd, and Hg exhibited a relatively high coefficient of variation, suggesting potential anthropogenic sources.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to arsenic and other potentially toxic elements: health risk assessment and source analysis in the Wuming Basin, Guangxi Province, China

Hu,

Li,

Liu

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Guangxi, China, is one of the world's largest karst regions where potential toxic elements tend to accumulate, resulting in high soil background values. This study explores the ecological risk, elemental baseline values, and sources of potential toxic elements in karst regions, expanding the research to include 21 common elements. The significance of this research lies in its implications for the management of potential toxic element pollution, the formulation of environmental quality standards, and soil remediation in karst areas. In this study, 12,547 topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected in the study area. Pollution assessment and ecological risk evaluation of eight potential toxic elements (Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cd, Hg, Cr, and As) were conducted using the geo-accumulation index method and potential ecological risk index method. Multivariate statistical analysis was applied to analyze the total content of 21 common elements (Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, P, Cd, Hg, Co, Mn, Cr, V, I, S, As, pH, Se, N, CaO, Corg, Mo, and F). Additionally, the potential sources of 21 soil elements were preliminarily quantitatively analyzed using the principal component analysis-absolute principal component scores-multiple linear regression receptor model. The results showed that (1) Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, V, and As were enriched in the research area and Ca, Cd, Mn, Mo, Hg, As, and Cu might have been influenced by human activities; (2) Cr, Pb, As, and Zn were generally lightly polluted, with Hg having a moderate potential ecological risk level; and (3) Ni and Zn have contributions of 37.99% and 35.07% from geological sources, agricultural fertilization, and pesticides. Mo, V, Cr, Se, Hg, and As exhibit contributions ranging from 39.44 to 59.22% originating from geological backgrounds and human activities. Corg, S, N, and P show contributions of 45.39% to 80.33% from surface vegetation. F, Co, Mn, and Pb have contributions ranging from 31.63 to 47.93% from acidic rocks in the soil parent material, mining activities, and transportation. Cd and CaO derive 31.67% and 40.23%, respectively, from soil parent material and industrial sources. I has 31.94% from geological background and human activities, and 31.95% from soil parent material and atmospheric sources. Cu has 30.56% from geological sources. The study results can serve as a scientific basis for element research in karst areas domestically and internationally.

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“…For Xinjiang (China), the proportion of residential coal combustion was greater than the other sources. The study results of Zhang et al [57] showed that the atmospheric deposition of Hg could change the Hg isotopic composition in the farmland topsoil close to industrial areas, and the Hg content in the topsoil was higher than that in the subsoil. The investigation reported that Hg content in coal in China is relatively high (about 0.17 mg/kg).…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 98%

Ecological risk assessment and source identification of heavy metal pollution in vegetable bases of Urumqi, China, using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method

et al. 2020

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Heavy metal pollution is a widespread problem and strongly affects human health through the food chain. In this study, the overall pollution situation and source apportionment of heavy metals in soil (Hg, Cd, As, Pb, Ni, Zn, Cu and Cr) were evaluated using various methods including geo-accumulation index (I geo), potential ecological risk index (RI) and positive matrix factorization combined with Geographical Information System (GIS) to quantify and identify the possible sources to these heavy metals in soils. The results of I geo showed that this farmland top soil moderate contaminated by Hg, other selected elements with noncontamination level. And the average RI in the top soil was 259.89, indicating a moderate ecological risk, of which Hg and Cd attributed 88.87% of the RI. The results of the PMF model showed that the relative contributions of heavy metals due to atmospheric depositions (18.70%), sewage irrigations (21.17%), soil parent materials (19.11%), industrial and residential coal combustions (17.43%) and agricultural and lithogenic sources (23.59%), respectively. Of these elements, Pb and Cd were came from atmospheric deposition. Cr was attributed to sewage irrigations. As was mainly derived from the soil parent materials. Hg originated from industrial and residential coal combustions, and most of the Cu, Zn and Ni, except for Pb, were predominantly derived from agricultural and lithogenic sources. These results are important in considering management plans to control the aggravation of heavy metal pollution and ultimately to protect soil resources in this region. In addition, this study enhances the understanding of heavy metal contamination occurrence in agroecosystem that helps predicting and limiting the potential of heavy metal exposure to people and ecosystem.

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Soil mercury accumulation, spatial distribution and its source identification in an industrial area of the Yangtze Delta, China

Cited by 37 publications

References 47 publications

Shale weathering profiles show Hg sequestration along a New York–Tennessee transect

Shale weathering profiles show Hg sequestration along a New York–Tennessee transect

Exposure to arsenic and other potentially toxic elements: health risk assessment and source analysis in the Wuming Basin, Guangxi Province, China

Ecological risk assessment and source identification of heavy metal pollution in vegetable bases of Urumqi, China, using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method

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