The distribution of heavy metal pollution in cultivated land is closely related to the quality of the cultivated land. In this study, 533 soil samples were collected from cultivated land in the Yangtze River delta region in China for Cd, Pb, and Hg analyses. Spatial statistical analysis was used to study the heavy metal pollution in the cultivated land, and the driving forces of heavy metal distribution in different cultivated land quality subdivisions were analyzed with GeogDetector. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Among the three heavy metals in the study area, the coefficient of variation of Cd is the largest, and that of Pb is the smallest. The proportion of Cd and Hg exceeding the standard value (the standard of level two in GB 15618-2018) is relatively large, both of which are 5%; (2) From the perspective of the spatial distribution of soil heavy metal pollution, only four counties (CX, HN, WY, and LH) were free of heavy metal pollution. Soil heavy metal pollution in AJ, SY, QJ, and DS counties is relatively serious, and the pollution may come from agricultural activities, manufacturing, and prevalent coastal shipping industries in these counties; (3) The heavy metal pollution levels of cultivated land with different quality levels are different. The high-quality cultivated land has no high contamination, while the medium and the general cultivated land both have high contamination. High contamination is related to Cd for medium and general cultivated lands, and to Hg in only general cultivated land; (4) The main driving factors of heavy metal concentration in cultivated soil were GDP, followed by soil organic matter, and pH. These results indicate that the spatial distribution of heavy metal concentration in cultivated soil was affected by the level of economic development, followed by the ecological environment, indicating that human activities had a critical impact on the ecological environment of cultivated land.
Keywords: Nemerow integrated pollution index (NIPI); cultivated land quality grade; driving force; soil heavy metal.