Similar articles

Abstract: Heavy metal contamination of soils, derived from sewage irrigation, mining and inappropriate utilization of various agrochemicals and pesticides, and so on, has been of wide concern in the last several decades. The shenyang Zhangshi Irrigation Area (SZIA) in China is a representative area of heavy metal contamination of soils resulting from sewage irrigation for about 30 years. This study investigated the spatial distribution and temporal variation of soil cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) contamination in the SZIA. The soil samples were collected from the SZIA in 1990 and 2004; Cd and Cu in soils was analyzed and then the spatial distribution and temporal variation of Cd and Cu in soils were modeled using Kriging methods. The results show that long-term sewage irrigation had caused serious Cd and Cu contamination in soils. The mean and the maximum of soil Cd are markedly higher than the levels in second grade standard soil (LSGSS) in China, and the maximum of soil Cu is close to the LSGSS in China in 2004 and is more than the LSGSS in China in 1990. The contamination magnitude of soil Cd and the soil extent of Cd contamination had evidently increased since sewage irrigation ceased in 1992. The contamination magnitude of soil Cu and the soil extent of Cu contamination had evidently increased in topsoil, but obviously decresed in subsoil. The soil contamination of Cd and Cu was mainly related to Cd and Cu reactivation of contaminated sediments in Shenyang Xi River and the import of Cd and Cu during irrigation. The eluviation of Cd and Cu in contaminated topsoil with rainfall and irrigation water was another factor of temporal-spatial variability of Cd and Cu contamination in soils.

[1] Amini, M., Afyuni, M., Khademi, H., Abbaspour, K.C., Schulin, R., 2005. Mapping risk of cadmium and lead contamination to human health in soils of Central Iran. Sci. Total Environ., 347(1/2/3):64-77.

[2] Atteia, O., Dubois, J.P., Webster, R., 1994. Geostatistical analysis of soil contamination in the Swiss Jura. Environ. Pollut., 86(3):315-327.

[3] Barabás, N., Goovaerts, P., Adriaens, P., 2001. Geostatistical assessment and validation of uncertainty for three-dimensional dioxin data from sediments in an estuarine river. Environ. Sci. Technol., 35(16):3294-3301.

[4] Bierkens, M.F.P., 1997. Using Stratification and Residual Kriging to Map Soil Pollution in Urban Areas. In: Baafi E.Y., Schofield, N.A. (Eds.), Geostatistics Wollongong ’96. Kluwer Academic Pub., Dordrecht, p.996-1007.

[5] Carlon, C., Critto, A., Marcomini, A., Nathanail, P., 2001. Risk based characterisation of contaminated industrial site using multivariate and geostatistical tools. Environ. Pollut., 111(3):417-427.

[6] Cattle, J.A., McBratney, A.B., Minasny, B., 2002. Kriging method evaluation for assessing the spatial distribution of urban soil lead contamination. J. Environ. Qual., 31:1576-1588.

[7] Chen, T., Wu, Y.Y., Zhang, X.X., Kong, Q.X., 1980. The mend of Cd soils and prevention and cure of Cd contamination in ripe in Zhangshi irrigation area. Environ. Sci. Sin., 1(5):7-11 (in Chinese).

[8] Chen, T., Wu, Y.Y., Kong, Q.X., Tan, F., 1985. Cd speciations in soils in Zhangshi irrigation area. Acta Ecolog. Sin., 15(4):300-305 (in Chinese).

[9] Goovaerts, P., Webster, R., Dubois, J.P., 1997. Assessing the risk of soil contamination in the Swiss Jura using indicator geostatistics. Environ. Ecol. Stat., 4(1):49-64.

[10] Liu, R.M., Wang, X.J., Zheng, Y., Li, Y., Jiang, Y.C., Zhou, X.W., 2002. The application of geostatistics in the study of water quality of Taihu Lake. Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae, 22(2):209-212 (in Chinese).

[11] Selvaraj, K., Ram, Mohan, V., Szefer, P., 2004. Evaluation of metal contamination in coastal sediments of the Bay of Bengal, India: Geochemical and statistical approaches. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 49(3):174-185.

[12] von Steiger, B., Webster, R., Schulin, R., Lehmann, R., 1996. Mapping heavy metals in polluted soil by disjunctive Kriging. Environ. Pollut., 94(2):205-215.

[13] Wang, X.J., Liu, R.M., 2004. Spatial analysis and eutrophication assessment for chlorophyll a in Taihu Lake. Environ. Mon. Assess., 101(1/2/3):1-8.

[14] Wu, Y., Chen, G., Zhang, X., 1986. Pollution Ecology of Cd in the Zhangshi Irrigation Area of Shenyang. In: Gao, Z.M. (Ed.), Studies on Pollution of Soil-Plant Systems. China Science and Technology Press, Beijing, p.339-344 (in Chinese).

[15] Wu, Y.Y., Chen, T., Kong, Q.X., 1992. Prevention and cure of heavy metals contamination of farmland in China. Agro-Environ. Prot., 11(4):187-189.

[16] Yu, F.L., 1991. Studies on the Change of Cadmium in Shenyang Zhangshi Irrigation Area. Centre Station of Environmental Monitory of Shenyang, Issues 3 and 4 (in Chinese).

[17] Zhang, W.J., Fan, H.Y., 2002. Establishment of environmental criterions for Cd, Hg, As, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni in Tianjin soils. Urban Environ. Urban Ecol., 15(3):47-48 (in Chinese).

[18] Zhang, Z.Y., Zhan, H.L., Guo, X.P., 2002. The spatial variable analyses of salt in farmland of plage plain. J. Hohai Univ. (Nat. Sci.), 7(4):50-65 (in Chinese).