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Ecological security and health risk assessment of soil heavy metals on a village-level scale, based on different land use types

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Abstract

Land use affects the accumulation of heavy metals in soil, which will endanger ecological safety and human health. Taking the village as an administrative unit, the ecological safety and health risks of heavy metals, namely, Cr, Cu, Zn, and Pb in soils in the Houzhai River Watershed of Guizhou Province, China, were evaluated based on land use types by the Hakanson potential ecological risk methods and human health risk model. Results showed that the spatial heterogeneity of Cu and Zn was greatly affected by primary structural factors, and Cr and Pb were interfered by both structural factors and human activities. The geo-accumulation index of the heavy metals showed a light pollution in the study area. The comprehensive potential ecological risk of heavy metal in the area was divided into three levels: slight, moderate, and intense, and it is spatially high in the northwest and low in the southeast. Both non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk of the heavy metals to the human body are not significant and are acceptable. The risks of children are higher than adults, and direct intake is the primary route of exposure in the area. The potential ecological risk and human health risk of soil heavy metals are relatively obviously affected by digital elevation data and normalized vegetation index. The study has certain reference value for the prevention and control of regional soil heavy metal risk.

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Acknowledgements

This research work was supported jointly by national key research program of China (Nos. 2016YFC0502300 and 2016YFC0502102), Western Light Talent Program (Category A) (No. 2018- 99), United fund of karst science research center (No. U1612441), Science and Technology Plan of Guizhou Province of China (2017–2966), Chinese academy of science and technology services network program (No. KFJ-STS-ZDTP-036) and international cooperation agency international partnership program (Nos. 132852KYSB20170029, 2014–3), International cooperation research projects of the national natural science fund committee (No. 41571130074 & 41571130042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550081, Guizhou Province, China

    Shiqi Tian, Shijie Wang, Xiaoyong Bai, Yujie Yang, Zeyin Hu, Chaojun Li, Yuanhong Deng & Qian Lu

  2. School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550001, China

    Shiqi Tian, Dequan Zhou, Yujie Yang & Chaojun Li

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Xi′an, 710061, Shanxi Province, China

    Xiaoyong Bai

  4. Puding Karst Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Puding, 562100, Guizhou Province, China

    Shiqi Tian, Shijie Wang, Yujie Yang, Zeyin Hu, Chaojun Li, Yuanhong Deng & Qian Lu

  5. Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Geographic State Monitoring of Watershed, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, 550018, China

    Xiaoyong Bai & Guangjie Luo

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  1. Shiqi Tian
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Tian, S., Wang, S., Bai, X. et al. Ecological security and health risk assessment of soil heavy metals on a village-level scale, based on different land use types. Environ Geochem Health 42, 3393–3413 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-020-00583-6

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