Distribution and Source of Pb in Urban Topsoil

In the process of industrialization and urbanization, human activities have caused more and more heavy metal lead to enter the surface soil, causing harm to the health of residents. Analysis of the status of lead pollution in urban surface soils in China found that lead pollution in most cities currently exceeds regional background values. The sources of heavy metals in cities mainly include transportation, industrial emissions, and human activities. At present, the methods for determining sources include three methods: multivariate statistical analysis, geographic information systems, and isotope tracing.

Pollution characteristics of toxic metals in topsoil of small and medium-sized cities in mountainous areas of loess plateau in china——A case study of Guyuan

Urban soils are subjected to large number of pollutants (including toxic metals). This study investigated the urban soil environmental quality of Guyuan (a typical mountainous city in the Loess Plateau of northwestern China) by determining the concentrations of eight toxic metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Mn, and Co) in urban topsoil as well as their potential sources. The toxic metal contents in the urban topsoil of Guyuan were generally less than those of other cities in northwestern China. Majority of the metals were highly concentrated in commercial and residential areas at the centre of Guyuan and the industrial region in southeastern Guyuan. The results of our study can contribute towards controlling, managing, and preventing soil pollution, as well as implementing safe layouts for the development of mountainous cities from the planning stage itself.