Trace element contamination in urban topsoil in China during 2000–2009 and 2010–2019: Pollution assessment and spatiotemporal analysis

Heavy metal pollution has pervaded many parts of the world, especially developing countries such as China. This review summarizes available data in the literature (2005-2012) on heavy metal polluted soils originating from mining areas in China. Based on these obtained data, this paper then evaluates the soil pollution levels of these collected mines and quantifies the risks these pollutants pose to human health. To assess these potential threat levels, the geoaccumulation index was applied, along with the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recommended method for health risk assessment. The results demonstrate not only the severity of heavy metal pollution from the examined mines, but also the high carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks that soil heavy metal pollution poses to the public, especially to children and those living in the vicinity of heavily polluted mining areas. In order to provide key management targets for relevant government agencies, based on the results of the pollution and health risk assessments, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Hg, As, and Ni are selected as the priority control heavy metals; tungsten, manganese, lead-zinc, and antimony mines are selected as the priority control mine categories; and southern provinces and Liaoning province are selected as the priority control provinces. This review, therefore, provides a comprehensive assessment of soil heavy metal pollution derived from mines in China, while identifying policy recommendations for pollution mitigation and environmental management of these mines. © 2013.

Soil heavy metal pollution has been becoming serious and widespread in China. To date, there are few studies assessing the nationwide soil heavy metal pollution induced by industrial and agricultural activities in China. This review obtained heavy metal concentrations in soils of 402 industrial sites and 1041 agricultural sites in China throughout the document retrieval. Based on the database, this review assessed soil heavy metal concentration and estimated the ecological and health risks on a national scale. The results revealed that heavy metal pollution and associated risks posed by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) are more serious. Besides, heavy metal pollution and associated risks in industrial regions are severer than those in agricultural regions, meanwhile, those in southeast China are severer than those in northwest China. It is worth noting that children are more likely to be affected by heavy metal pollution than adults. Based on the assessment results, Cd, Pb and As are determined as the priority control heavy metals; mining areas are the priority control areas compared to other areas in industrial regions; food crop plantations are the priority control areas in agricultural regions; and children are determined as the priority protection population group. This paper provides a comprehensive ecological and health risk assessment on the heavy metals in soils in Chinese industrial and agricultural regions and thus provides insights for the policymakers regarding exposure reduction and management.