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      Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals and the Environmental Quality of Soil in the Northern Plateau of Spain by Geostatistical Methods

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          Abstract

          The environmental quality of soil in the central part of the Northern Plateau of Spain has been analyzed by studying the heavy metal content of 166 samples belonging to the horizons A, B and C of 89 soil profiles. The analysis to assess the environmental risk of heavy metals in the soil was carried out by means of the spatial distribution of nine heavy metals and the use of several pollution indices. The results showed that the concentration values of heavy metals ( x ¯ ± S) in the superficial soil horizons were the following: With a total of 6.71 ± 3.51 mg·kg −1, the contents of Cd is 0.08 ± 0.06 mg·kg −1, Co is 6.49 ± 3.21 mg·kg −1, Cu is 17.19 ± 10.69 mg·kg −1, Cr is 18.68 ± 12.28 mg·kg −1, Hg is 0.083 ± 0.063 mg·kg −1, Ni is 12.05 ± 6.76 mg·kg −1, Pb is 14.10 ± 11.32 mg·kg −1 and Zn is 35.31 ± 14.63 mg·kg −1. These nine metals exceed the values of the natural geological background level of Tertiary period sediments and rocks that form part of the Northern Plateau in Spain. Nemerow and Potential Ecological Risk indices were calculated, with the “improved” Nemerow index allowing pollution within the soil superficial horizons to be determined. The data obtained indicated that the majority of the soil (54.61%) showed low to moderate contamination, 22.31% showed moderate contamination and 21.54% of the samples were not contaminated. If we consider the Potential of Ecological Risk Index (RI), the largest percentage of soil samples showed low (70.79%) to moderate (25.38%) ecological risk of potential contamination, where the rest of the soil presented a considerable risk of contamination. The nine trace elements were divided into three principal components: PC 1 (Cu, Cr, Ni, Co and Zn), PC 2 (As and Hg) and PC 3 (Cd). All metals accumulated in the soil came from parent rock, agricultural practices and the run-off of residual waters towards rivers and streams caused by industrial development and an increase in population density. Finally, cartography of the spatial distribution of the heavy metal contents in the soil of the Northern Plateau of Spain was generated using Kriging interpolation methods. Furthermore, the total heavy metal contents in three soil orders present in the area, namely Entisols, Inceptisols, and Alfisols, were analyzed. Other soil parameters, such as the organic matter content, pH, clay content and cation exchange capacity, was measured to determine their influence on and correlation with the heavy metal contents.

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          Metal contamination in urban, suburban, and country park soils of Hong Kong: a study based on GIS and multivariate statistics.

          The urban environment quality is of vital importance as the majority of people now live in cities. Due to the continuous urbanisation and industrialisation in many parts of the world, metals are continuously emitted into the terrestrial environment and pose a great threat on human health. An extensive survey was conducted in the highly urbanised and commercialised Hong Kong Island area (80.3 km2) of Hong Kong using a systematic sampling strategy of five soil samples per km2 in urban areas and two samples per km2 in the suburban and country park sites (0-15 cm). The analytical results indicated that the surface soils in urban and suburban areas are enriched with metals, such as Cu, Pb, and Zn. The Pb concentration in the urban soils was found to exceed the Dutch target value. The statistical analyses using principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) showed distinctly different associations among trace metals and the major elements (Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn) in the urban, suburban, and country park soils. Soil pollution maps of trace metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the surface soils were produced based on geographical information system (GIS) technology. The hot-spot areas of metal contamination were mainly concentrated in the northern and western parts of Hong Kong Island, and closely related to high traffic conditions. The Pb isotopic composition of the urban, suburban, and country park soils showed that vehicular emissions were the major anthropogenic sources for Pb. The 206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/207Pb ratios in soils decreased as Pb concentrations increased in a polynomial line (degree=2).
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            A tutorial guide to geostatistics: Computing and modelling variograms and kriging

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              Spatial distribution of heavy metals in urban soils of Naples city (Italy)

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Academic Editor
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                26 May 2017
                June 2017
                : 14
                : 6
                : 568
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenue Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, Spain; fsantos@ 123456usal.es (F.S.-F.); palrojo@ 123456usal.es (P.A.R.)
                [2 ]Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Salamanca, Plaza de la Merced s/n., 37008 Salamanca, Spain
                [3 ]Department of Statistics, Faculty of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenue Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, Spain; caaz@ 123456usal.es
                [4 ]Department of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology—IRNASA (C.S.I.C.), Calle Cordel de Merinas 40, 37008 Salamanca, Spain; antonio.gsanchez@ 123456irnasa.csic.es
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: amgranna@ 123456usal.es ; Tel.: +34-923-294-400-4496
                Article
                ijerph-14-00568
                10.3390/ijerph14060568
                5486254
                28587142
                6db0be45-5a70-45ef-a0e0-e2b1804838ac
                © 2017 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 08 April 2017
                : 25 May 2017
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                soil,heavy metals,spatial distribution,environmental quality,kriging,principal component analysis,northern plateau of spain

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