Pollution and health risk assessment of heavy metals in soils of Guizhou, China

Figures & data

Table 1. Heavy metal concentrations in soils of Guizhou, mg/kg.Figure 1

City	County	Sampling time	No. of samples	Hg	As	Cu	Zn	Pb	Cr	Cd	Ni	References
Guiyang	Baiyi	2016.09	125			33.53	116.50	55.76	73.11	0.45		Xiong et al. 2018
	Xiuwei		25	0.69	11.77	51.60	66.84	25.20	49.99	0.17	45.69	Du et al. 2019
	Xifeng		31	0.25	19.19			67.50	60.82	0.49		Deng et al. 2006
Anshun	Qiyanqiao	2015.10	30	0.12	1.51	112.79		22.15		19.35		Zhang et al. 2018
	Ninggu	2015.10	30	0.21	1.20	89.49		23.84		9.08		Zhang et al. 2018
	Guanling	2017.07	20	0.08	15.14			32.24	93.11	1.12		Chai et al. 2018
Zunyi	Zunyi		29	0.21	12.88			53.20	55.87	0.43		Chen et al., 2008
	Fenggang		22	0.27	25.28			29.33	39.71	0.32		Chen et al., 2008
	Xiazi	2015.08	19	0.10	14.09	53.00	101.00	34.00	90.00	0.33	443.00	Zhang et al. 2017
Liupanshui	Liupanshui	2013	11			115.7	364.9	47.22	207.1		45.90	Hu et al. 2014
Bijie	Weining	2017.07	72		25.19	29.48	144.75	45.33	93.03		45.08	Zhao et al. 2018
	Zhijin	2013.10	47	0.76	12.70	58.90	134.22	10.83	33.98	0.53	59.79	Geng 2015
Tongren	Gaolouping	2016.03	12	4.29	117.6	43.77	29.13	48.99	59.06	0.43	18.80	Zhan et al. 2017
	Wanshan	2013.06	30	14.15	14.24	41.45		59.30	353.22	0.87	33.58	Hu et al. 2015
QNBM	Duyun		279	0.31	18.50	27.5		74.50	52.80	0.214		Zhang et al. 2012
	Guiding		400	0.26	12.60	18.60		64.90	44.50	0.23		Zhang et al. 2012
MMD	Huangping	2016.08	112	0.26	8.55			25.10	54.80	0.29		Zhai et al. 2018
	Jianhe		92	0.23	3.32	10.95		21.18	38.72	0.29		Zhang et al. 2016
	Majiang		18	0.28	38.00	26.00	97.00	50.00	65.00	0.30	30.00	Gou and Zhang 2019
QYBM	Wangmo	2017.07	31	0.05	9.71			22.26	64.60	0.09		Chai et al. 2018

Figure 1. Sampling areas for risk assessment of heavy metals in Guizhou

Table 2. The classification of heavy metal indexes (Muller 1969; Håkanson 1980)

Geo-accumulation index (Igeo)		Potential ecological risk (E^ir)		Ecological risk index (RI)
Value	Category	Value	Category	Value	Category
Igeo ≤ 0	Practically uncontaminated	E^ir<40	Low	RI<150	Low
0< Igeo≤1	Uncontaminated to moderately contaminated	40≤ E^ir<80	Moderate	150≤ RI<300	Moderate
1< Igeo≤2	Moderately contaminated	80≤ E^ir<160	Considerable	300≤ RI<600	High
2< Igeo≤3	Moderately to heavily contaminated	160≤ E^ir<320	High	600≤ RI	Very high
3< Igeo≤4	Heavily contaminated	E^ir≥320	Very high
4< Igeo≤5	Heavily to extremely contaminated
5< Igeo	Extremely contaminated

Table 3. Health risk parameters for heavy metals in soil (HJ 25.3–2014., 2014; Ministry of Environmental Protection., 2013(a, b), 2016; Li et al. (2018); Fan et al. (2019); Cao et al. (2020))

Exposure pathway	Parameter	Age	CF	EF	ED	AT Carcinogenic	AT Non-carcinogenic	BW	PEF	Ing	Inh	SA	SL	ABS
Ingestion	Child	0～5	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	6.4	1.36 × 10^9	73
		6～17	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	26.5	1.36 × 10^9	103
	Adult	18～75	10^−6	350	24	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	60.6	1.36 × 10^9	100
Inhalation	Child	0～5	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	6.4	1.36 × 10^9		3.7
		6～17	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	26.5	1.36 × 10^9		10.1
	Adult	18～75	10^−6	350	24	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	60.6	1.36 × 10^9		15.7
Dermal	Child	0～5	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	6.4	1.36 × 10^9			1224	0.2	10^−3
		6～17	10^−6	350	6	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	26.5	1.36 × 10^9			3564	0.2	10^−3
	Adult	18～75	10^−6	350	24	74.8 × 365	ED ×365	60.6	1.36 × 10^9			5120	0.07	10^−3

Table 4. RfD and SFH of heavy metals in soils with different exposures (Li et al. 2018; Fan et al. 2019; Cao et al. 2020)

	RfD			SF
Element	Ingestion	Inhalation	Dermal	Ingestion	Inhalation	Dermal
Hg	3. 00 × 10^−4	8.57 × 10^−5	2.10 × 10^−5
As	3. 00 × 10^−4	3.00 × 10^−4	1.23 × 10^−4	1.50	15.1	3.66
Cu	4.00 × 10^−2	4.02 × 10^−2	1.20 × 10^−2
Zn	3.00 × 10^−1	3.00 × 10^−1	6.00 × 10^−2
Pb	3.50 × 10^−3	3.52 × 10^−3	5.25 × 10^−4
Cr	3.00 × 10^−3	2.86 × 10^−5	6.00 × 10^−5		42
Cd	1.00 × 10^−3	1.00 × 10^−3	1.00 × 10^−5		6.30
Ni	2.00 × 10^−2	2.06 × 10^−2	5.40 × 10^−3		0.84

Table 5. Heavy metal concentrations in soils of Guizhou, along with related reference data

		Hg	As	Cu	Zn	Pb	Cr	Cd	Ni	Reference
Guizhou soil	Min/(mg/kg)	0.05	1.20	10.95	29.13	10.83	33.98	0.09	18.8	This paper
	Max/(mg/kg)	14.15	117.60	115.7	364.9	74.5	353.22	19.35	443
	Average/(mg/kg)	1.53	20.93	50.91	131.79	40.64	84.97	1.94	90.23
	SD	3.46	25.48	33.16	101.18	18.3	77.34	4.81	3.46
	CV/%	226.14	121.74	65.13	76.77	45.03	91.02	247.94	3.83
	Skewness	3.27	3.32	1.05	2.07	0.24	2.94	3.32	3.27
	Kurtosis	11.45	12.63	0.12	5.19	−1.11	9.1	11.24	11.45
	Background values (mg/kg)^a	0.11	20	32	99.50	120	95.90	0.66	39.1
	Risk screening values (6.5< pH≤7.5)/(mg/kg)^b	2.4	25	100	250	700	200	0.30	100
	Risk intervention values (6.5< pH≤7.5)/(mg/kg)^b	4	120				1000	3
Reference areas	Chongqing, China	1.18	18.8	36.3	112.6	41.8	82.3	0.59	36.1	Bao et al. 2020
	Shenzhen, China		12.59	73.14	211.49	83.47	40.39	0.59	17.03	Chang et al. 2019
	Shanxi, China	0.067	7.75			9.68	57.1	0.15		Meng et al. 2019
	Inner Mongolia, China			32.48	107.17	12.31	53.53	0.22		Zhu et al., 2020
	Dhaka, Bangladesh.			39.14	115.43	49.71	53.70	11.42	58.16	Jasim and Md 2010
	Mediterranean, Greece		7.1	65.23	72.15	20.1	72.3	0.45	120.3	Kelepertzis 2014
	Mojo, Ethiopia	-	24.50	25.96	98.86	37.93	36.23	5.30	35.58	Gebeyehu, Bayissa, and Bhatnagar 2020

^aLocal soil background values (China National Environmental Monitoring Centre 1990)

^bGB 15618–2018

Figure 2. I_geo (a) and E_i (b) of heavy metals in soils of Guizhou

Table 6. Children and adult exposure of soil heavy metals in three pathways in Guizhou

	Ingestion			Inhalation			Dermal
	Child		Adult	Child		Adult	Child		Adult
Element	0～5 Years old	6～17 Years old	18～75 Years old	0～5 Years old	6～17 Years old	18～75 Years old	0～5 Years old	6～17 Years old	18～75 Years old
Hg	1.67E-05	5.70E-06	2.42E-06	6.24E-10	4.11E-10	2.64E-10	5.61E-08	3.95E-08	8.68E-09
As	2.29E-04	7.80E-05	3.31E-05	8.53E-09	5.62E-09	3.82E-09	7.68E-07	5.40E-07	1.19E-07
Cu	5.57E-04	1.90E-04	8.06E-05	2.08E-08	1.37E-08	8.77E-09	1.87E-06	1.31E-06	2.89E-07
Zn	1.44E-03	4.91E-04	2.09E-04	5.37E-08	3.54E-08	2.27E-08	4.83E-06	3.40E-06	7.47E-07
Pb	4.45E-04	1.51E-04	6.43E-05	1.66E-08	1.09E-08	7.00E-09	1.49E-06	1.05E-06	2.30E-07
Cr	9.29E-04	3.17E-04	1.34E-04	3.46E-08	2.28E-08	1.55E-08	3.12E-06	2.19E-06	4.82E-07
Cd	2.12E-05	7.23E-06	3.07E-06	7.91E-10	5.21E-10	3.54E-10	7.12E-08	5.00E-08	1.10E-08
Ni	9.87E-04	3.36E-04	1.43E-04	3.68E-08	2.42E-08	1.65E-08	3.31E-06	2.33E-06	5.12E-07

Table 7. Health risk index of heavy metals in soils of Guizhou

	Ingestion		Inhalation		Dermal		CR		HQ
Element	Child	Adult	Child	Adult	Child	Adult	Child	Adult	Child	Adult
Hg	6.15E-02	8.07E-03	5.94E-06	3.07E-06	2.11E-03	4.13E-04			6.36E-02	8.49E-03
As	1.17E-01	3.54E-02	7.87E-06	4.09E-06	1.74E-03	3.10E-04	5.37E-05	1.61E-05	1.19E-01	3.57E-02
Cu	1.54E-02	2.01E-03	4.23E-07	2.19E-07	1.23E-04	2.41E-05			1.55E-02	2.04E-03
Zn	5.30E-03	6.95E-04	1.46E-07	7.57E-08	6.36E-05	1.25E-05	-		5.36E-03	7.08E-04
Pb	1.40E-01	1.84E-02	3.86E-06	2.00E-06	2.24E-03	4.39E-04			1.42E-01	1.88E-02
Cr	4.77E-02	1.44E-02	3.35E-04	1.74E-04	1.44E-02	2.58E-03	4.03E-07	2.09E-07	6.25E-02	1.71E-02
Cd	3.27E-03	9.85E-04	2.19E-07	1.14E-07	1.98E-03	3.53E-04	1.38E-09	7.16E-10	5.25E-03	1.34E-03
Ni	7.60E-03	2.29E-03	4.94E-07	2.57E-07	1.70E-04	3.04E-05	8.55E-09	4.44E-09	7.77E-03	2.32E-03

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