The Yangtze River Economic Belt is one of the areas with rapid economic development in China, although the intensive industrial activities have aggravated the emissions of soil pollutants in this area. Industrial activities are important sources of soil heavy metal contamination; however, the spatial distribution and main emission sources of soil heavy metal contamination in industrial regions of the economic belt remain unclear. Here, we collected data on the concentrations of eight heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Hg, As, and Zn) in the surface soils of 193 industrial regions covering 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Web of Science, and other public databases. On this basis, we analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals and the contamination characteristics of typical industries. The results showed that the heavy metal contamination in agricultural land was more serious than that in industrial land. A total of 58.49%, 39.53%, and 22.64% of the agricultural land, respectively, contained levels of Cd, Zn, and Pb that exceeded the screening values of the Soil Environmental Quality Control Standard for Soil Pollution Risk of Agricultural Land (GB 15618-2018). The results of geo-accumulation index analysis showed that the contamination degree of the eight heavy metals was in the order of Cd (2.52)>Hg (1.17)>Pb (1.00)>Zn (0.90)>Cu (0.72)>As (0.02)>Cr (-0.40)>Ni(-0.48). As for the spatial distribution, Hg, Cd, As, Cu, Pb, and Zn were the main pollutants in the upstream and middle reaches of the industrial regions, whereas As, Cd, and Hg were the main pollutants in the downstream industrial regions. Different types of industry caused different types of contamination. Mining industries caused the most serious soil contamination, the main pollutants of which were Hg and Cd, followed by Cu, Pb, and Zn. Furthermore, metal processing industries mainly caused Cd and Pb contamination. The surrounding soils of chemical industries were contamination-free or only slightly polluted by the eight heavy metals, whereas petroleum processing industries mainly caused Cd contamination. Our study provides important theoretical basis for the future prevention and control of soil heavy metal contamination in industrial regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Keywords: contamination; heavy metal; industrial region; soil; the Yangtze River Economic Belt.