Source Identification and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soil: A Case Study of Lintancang Plain, Northeast China

Abstract

To investigate the concentration, source, and potential health risk of soil heavy metals (V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Hg), this study determined the concentration of these seven metals in 37 soil samples from Linyi City, southeast of Shandong Province, China. The mean concentrations of the investigated heavy metals followed the sequence: Cr (76.2 mg/kg) > V (70.5 mg/kg) > Zn (70.1 mg/kg) > Ni (34.0 mg/kg) > Pb (31.4 mg/kg) > Cu (23.2 mg/kg) > Hg (1.7 mg/kg). The enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) indicated an extreme enrichment of Hg (EF > 10, Igeo > 4) within the study area, while a slight enrichment of other metals. According to the toxic risk index (TRI), Hg accounted for the strongest soil toxicity (TRI = 8.07, 64.3%). The risk assessment with hazard index (HI) suggested that the health risks of all metals were acceptable, and the HI of adults was generally lower compared with that of the children. In addition, two principal components (PC) calculated by principal component analysis (PCA) were used to identify the sources of these heavy metals, which were 57.73% for PC 1 (Pb, Cr, Zn, Ni, Hg, Cu and V) and 21.63% for PC 2 (Hg, Cu and V), respectively. Moreover, PC 1 was mainly controlled by anthropogenic inputs, while PC 2 was contributed to by natural sources. Combined with the correlation matrix, it was concluded that there were three different sources for all seven heavy metals.