As an important ecological security barrier in China, the ecological environment of Tibet has aroused widespread concern domestically and overseas. Landfills are a major solid waste treatment approach in Tibet but also cause severe environmental pollution. To date, there are no studies related to the pollution risk of landfills in Tibetan areas. This study investigated the pollution levels, ecological risk, health risk, and possible pollution sources of eight heavy metals in the soils around a landfill site in Lhasa, Tibet. The results indicated that the concentrations of heavy metals in soil were relatively low, only cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) were 1-2 times higher than the corresponding background value. The values of the single pollution index and geo-accumulation index show that the study area is most seriously polluted by Cd and As. Based on the Nemerow pollution index and the pollution load index, over 83.3% and 8.33% of soil sampling sites had light and moderate contamination levels. According to the results of potential ecological risk evaluation, the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in soil was very low, and only one out of the 72 sampling sites exhibited considerable ecological risk. Cd, As, and mercury (Hg) served as the dominant ecological risk contributors and contributed over 45.0%, 14.1%, and 18% of the ecological risk. The results of the health risk evaluation showed that adults have a higher risk of cancer (1.73 × 10-5), while the non-carcinogenic risk for adults was low. Waste disposal activities and construction activities have a significant influence on soil heavy metal concentrations, causing a higher pollution level in the southeast part of the landfill site in Lhasa.
Keywords: Tibet; ecological risk; health risk assessment; landfill site; soil heavy metal pollution.