Abstract
The environmental quality of remote alpine ecosystem has been drawn increasing attention owing to the increasingly severe atmospheric pollution. This study investigated the composition and sources of elements in the soil and moss collected from a pristine spruce forest in the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China. The order of mean concentrations of elements investigated in soil was Fe > K > Na > Mg > Ca > Mn > Cr > Zn > Pb > Ni > Cu > As > Cd > Hg, and that of moss was Ca > Fe > Mg > K > Na > Mn > Cr > Zn > Pb > Ni > Cu > As > Cd > Hg. The concentrations of trace metals (except for As) in soil were greater than the soil background values, with Pb contamination more serious than the other elements. The Nemerow integrated pollution index (NIPI) values indicated that the soils were heavily polluted by Pb, Cd and Ni. The potential ecological risk index (PERI) suggested that the soils were at moderate risk. In particular, Hg and Cd were the most critically potential factors for ecological risk. According to the bioaccumulation factors (BAF), the accumulated concentrations of Ca, Hg, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mg, Cr and Zn in moss were higher than those in soil. By performing the multivariate analyses, natural sources (airborne soil particles) were identified to be the major contributors for all elements, whereas anthropogenic sources also contributed to the accumulations of Pb and Cd in the soil and moss in this region.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1802905), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901130), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M673532) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in Lanzhou University (lzujbky-2020-kb35). We are very grateful to Zhanlei Rong for helping us collect the samples.
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The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1802905), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901130), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M673532) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in Lanzhou University (lzujbky-2020-kb35).
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Shengli Wang, Zhongren Nan and Chuanyan Zhao conceived and designed the research; Yi Wu, Yueyue Li and Qianfang Yang were involved in the pretreatment of the samples; Yi Wu collected the data and analyzed the data; Yi Wu and Fei Zang wrote and reviewed the manuscript.
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Wu, Y., Wang, S., Zang, F. et al. Composition, environmental implication and source identification of elements in soil and moss from a pristine spruce forest ecosystem, Northwest China. Environ Geochem Health 44, 829–845 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00984-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00984-1