TITLE:
Characteristics and Source Analysis of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution in a Mining Area
AUTHORS:
Haichan Yang, Chunyu Dong, Hao Zhang, Honglin Luo, Jiaqi Li, Jiao Yin, Xinxing Dong, Zhaoxia Wei, Naiming Zhang, Li Bao
KEYWORDS:
Soil Heavy Metals, Pollution Assessment, Ecological Risk, Source Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.10 No.3,
March
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: It is of great significance to study the degree and source of soil heavy
metal pollution in geological high background value area for remediation of
local contaminated soil. The 0 - 20 cm
topsoil was taken around the mining area, and the contents of Pb, Zn, Ni, Cd,
Hg, Cu and As in the soil were measured. Single-factor pollution index, Nemeiro
comprehensive pollution index and potential ecological risk index were used to
evaluate the degree of heavy metal pollution and ecological risk. Finally,
multivariate statistical analysis was used to analyze the sources of soil heavy
metals. The results show that the measured elements are polluted to different
degrees, mainly due to the ecological environment problems caused by extensive
mining development methods and inefficient
utilization of resources. The key link is the release of pollutants at
the source. Effectively blocking the release at the source can cut off the
possibility of pollutants entering the food chain and the circulation of
materials in the ecosystem. The results of potential ecological risk index showed
that the potential ecological damage of seven heavy metals was ranked as
follows: Cd (97.67) > Hg (68.97) > As (14.29) > Pb (11.55) > Ni
(4.62) > Zn (1.61) > Cu (1.45) had a high ecological risk coefficient,
and the potential comprehensive ecological risk index was 200.16 and the degree
was medium. Principal component analysis shows that the sources of heavy metals
are divided into Pb, Cd, As, Zn and Hg mainly from human activities such As
mining, while Ni and Cu mainly come from soil parent materials, mining and
agricultural activities.