Ecological and human health risk assessment of agricultural soils based on heavy metals in mining areas of Singhbhum copper belt, India

ABSTRACT

Risk characterization of agricultural soils in the mining areas of Singhbhum copper belt was done by determining the total concentrations of metals using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and assessing the potential ecological and human health risks. The concentrations were above the average shale values for most of the metals. Principal component analysis showed anthropogenic contributions of Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Pb, and Cr in the soils. Ecological risk assessment revealed that 50% of the soil samples were at moderate to very high ecological risk. Health risks for adults and children were calculated using hazard quotients (HQs), hazard index (HI), and Cancer risks for the oral, dermal, and inhalation pathways. The HQs for all the metals except As and Co were below 1, which suggested that non-carcinogenic risks due to metal exposure through soils were within the safe limit. However, considering all the metals and pathways, the HI for adults and children was 0.71 and 5.61, respectively, suggesting appreciable risk to local residents. The carcinogenic risks due to As and Cr in the soils were within the acceptable value of 1E–04. For both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, oral ingestion appeared to be the primary pathway followed by dermal and inhalation pathways.

KEYWORDS:

• agricultural soil
• heavy metals
• Singhbhum copper belt
• principal component analysis
• risk assessment

Funding

The authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for providing the necessary funding for the study under the DST- Young Scientist Scheme (Grant No.YSS/2015/001211). The authors are also thankful to the Director and Environment Assessment and Remediation Section (NREM), CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad for providing the necessary laboratory facilities and other logistic support for the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.