Contamination assessment and source apportionment of heavy metals in agricultural soil through the synthesis of PMF and GeogDetector models

Xufeng Fei; Zhaohan Lou; Rui Xiao; Zhouqiao Ren; Xiaonan Lv

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141293

Contamination assessment and source apportionment of heavy metals in agricultural soil through the synthesis of PMF and GeogDetector models

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Dec 10:747:141293. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141293. Epub 2020 Jul 28.

Authors

Xufeng Fei¹, Zhaohan Lou², Rui Xiao³, Zhouqiao Ren⁴, Xiaonan Lv⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Information Traceability of Agriculture Products, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China. Electronic address: feixf@mail.zaas.ac.cn.
² Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
³ School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Information Traceability of Agriculture Products, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China.

PMID: 32777512
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141293

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in soils has attracted great attention worldwide in recent decades. Selecting Hangzhou as a case study location, this research proposed the synthesis application of positive matrix factorization (PMF) and GeogDetector models for quantitative analysis of pollution sources, which is the basis for subsequent soil pollution prevention and remediation. In total, 2150 surface soil samples were collected across the study area. Although the mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb in the soils were lower than the National Environmental Quality Standards for Soils in China, the mean contents of As and Cd were higher than their corresponding local background values by approximately 1.31 and 1.59 times, respectively, indicating that heavy metals have been enriched in topsoil. Agricultural activities, industrial activities, and soil parent materials were the main sources of heavy metal pollution in the soils, accounting for 63.4%, 19.8%, and 16.8% of the total heavy metal accumulation, respectively. Cr was derived mainly from soil parent materials (80.72%). Cd was closely associated with agricultural activities (73.68%), such as sewage irrigation and application of fertilizer. Mercury was mainly attributed to industrial activities (92.38%), such as coal mining and smelting. As was related to agricultural (57.83%) and natural (35.56%) sources, and Pb was associated with industrial (42.42%) and natural (41.83%) sources. The new synthesis models are useful for estimating the source apportionment of heavy metals in soils.

Keywords: GeogDetector models; Heavy metal; Positive matrix factorization; Source apportionment; Spatial analysis.