Heavy Metals in Urban Soils of Xuzhou, China: Spatial Distribution and Correlation to Specific Magnetic Susceptibility

Abstract

The investigation of the anthropogenic contamination by heavy metals of soils is very important for environmental planning and monitoring in urban areas. In the present study, surface soils (0-20 cm) samples from 167 sampling sites in Xuzhou (China) were collected in 2010 and analyzed for heavy metals including Zn, Pb, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Sr, Ba Cr, Ni and Mo via inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Compared with their levels in natural soils of China, these metals investigated exhibited a slight build-up in Xuzhou topsoils. The multivariate statistical analyses including factor analysis (FA) and cluster analysis (CA) were performed. The obtained results enabled the identification of two main groups of metals, discriminating Ni, Mo and Cr from Zn, Pb, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Sr and Ba. Signifcant associations between Pb, Zn, Fe and specific magnetic susceptibility ( X) indicated that specific susceptibility can serve as proxies for these metals levels in Xuzhou urban soils.