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Multi-scale Spatial Distribution and Source Discrimination of Heavy Metals in Suburb Soils: A Case Study of Junctional Zone between Nanjing City and Zhenjiang City
Received:June 12, 2015  
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KeyWord:agricultural soil;heavy metal;spatial variation;geostatistics;different scales
Author NameAffiliationE-mail
HU Sun College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China  
YUAN Xu-yin College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China yxy_hjy@hhu.edu.cn 
CHEN Hong-yan College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China  
LI Tian-yuan College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China  
LIU Qing College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China  
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Abstract:
      Studying the spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals in soils provides valuable information not only for pollution source identification, but also for soil quality assessment. In this study,we investigated the multi-scale spatial distribution and source discrimination of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As and Pb in agricultural soils in a junctional zone between Nanjing City and Zhenjiang City, using geostatistics method. Heavy metal concentrations in most of the studied soils exceeded the soil background values of Nanjing, except Ni, indicating the enrichment of heavy metals in the suburb soils. The semivariance analysis showed that the spatial patterns of heavy metals had obvious differences at different scales. Nickel and As displayed the spatial patterns at the small scale, while Cr and Pb had the spatial patterns preferably at the large scale. The spatial patterns of Cu and Zn showed no significant difference at different scales. Principal component analysis(PCA)showed that Pb and As were influenced by traffic source, whereas agricultural activities were the main source of Zn and Cu pollution. Nickel and Cr were mainly associated with parent materials. The association between heavy metals and soil composition was different at different scales, with better association at smaller scales than at moderate and large scales.