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Accumulation risk and source apportionment of heavy metals in different types of farmland in a typical farming area of northern China

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Abstract

The types of land used for farmland can greatly influence the source and accumulation risk of heavy metals in soil. However, the apportioning quantitatively the source of soil heavy metals has been studied insufficiently, especially in terms of different types of farmland. In this study, a total of 252 soil samples were taken from dry land, paddy fields and greenhouse fields in the Jinyuan district of Taiyuan city, China, to assess the accumulation risk of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn). The results were then integrated, and source apportionment was evaluated by geospatial analysis, multivariate statistical analysis and positive matrix factorization (PMF). Cr, Cd and Hg were the dominant pollutants in the studied area. Accumulation risk by Cd and Cu was more severe in greenhouse fields than in dry land or paddy fields, whereas As, Hg and Pb had relatively higher accumulation in paddy fields than in dry land or greenhouse fields. Hg was derived mainly from coal combustion by atmospheric precipitation for the three types of farmland. Long-term irrigation using sewage is the main reason for the accumulation of Cu and Ni in dry land soil, Cu and Zn in paddy field soil and Zn in greenhouse soil. Cd in dry land, Cd and Pb in paddy fields and Cd, Cu, Ni and Pb in greenhouse fields were primarily added to soil through fertilization. Sewage irrigation and fertilization were the dominant sources of heavy metals for paddy field (31.3%) and greenhouse field (33.1%), respectively.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41807134), National Key Research and Development Project (2019YFC1805001) and Geological Survey Project from China Geological Survey (DD20190703 and DD20190182).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Eco-Geochemistry, Ministry of Natural Resources, National Research Center for Geoanalysis, Beijing, 100037, China

    Yongbing Liu

  2. MNR Key Laboratory of Metallogeny and Mineral Assessment, Institute of Mineral Resources, CAGS, Beijing, 100037, China

    Zihui Ma & Guannan Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of Cleaner Production and Integrated Resource Utilization of China National Light Industry, School of Ecology and Environment, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, China

    Zihui Ma, Guannan Liu & Liming Dong

  4. Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing, 100048, China

    Lei Jiang

  5. Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People Republic of China, Nanjing, 210042, China

    Yue He

  6. Shanxi Jingtianhuize Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., Taiyuan, 030012, China

    Zhifeng Shang

  7. Technical Centre for Soil, Agriculture and Rural Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing, 100012, China

    Huading Shi

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  1. Yongbing Liu
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  2. Zihui Ma
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Correspondence to Guannan Liu.

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Liu, Y., Ma, Z., Liu, G. et al. Accumulation risk and source apportionment of heavy metals in different types of farmland in a typical farming area of northern China. Environ Geochem Health 43, 5177–5194 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01002-0

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