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| Assessment of potential ecological risk for soil heavy metals in Sanjiang Source Region:A case study of Yushu County, Qinghai Province |
| Received:November 08, 2015 |
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| KeyWord:soil heavy metal;geo-accumulation index;potential ecological risk assessment;Yushu County;Sanjiang Source Region |
| Author Name | Affiliation | E-mail | | HE Lin-hua | The Key Laboratory for Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Environment and Resources of Education Ministry, School of Life Sciences and Geography, Qinghai Province Key Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environment Process, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China | | | GAO Xiao-hong | The Key Laboratory for Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Environment and Resources of Education Ministry, School of Life Sciences and Geography, Qinghai Province Key Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environment Process, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China | xiaohonggao226@163.com |
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| Abstract: |
| The Sanjiang Source Region is the sources of Yangtze River, Yellow River and Lancang River, and Yushu County, Qinghai, is a typical area of this region. An investigation was conducted to evaluate potential ecological risks of heavy metals in soils in Yushu County. A total of 121 soil samples were collected. Geo-accumulation index and potential ecological risk index were used to evaluate the ecological risk of heavy metal pollution. Results indicated that content of heavy metals in soils was higher than the background values of soil heavy metals in Qinghai Province in 1990, with As, Cd and Hg showing significant enrichments and Cd and As exceeding the national standards of soil environmental quality. This indicated that the enrichments of some soil heavy metals in Sanjiang Source Region since the 1990's. Source analysis showed that soil As, Pb, Zn and Cd in Yushu county were derived from soil forming factors; while Hg, Cu, and Cr mainly came from human activities. Manganese was influenced by climate factors. Soil Cd and Hg showed the greatest potential ecological risk, especially Hg. These risks were mainly distributed in the towns or areas along the national highway 214, which was closely related to human activities. Of all watersheds, Jiangqu River watershed had very high ecological risk of soil heavy metals, while the others were medium risk. Overall, heavy metals in Yushu county soils had changed greatly, and the protection of the ecological environment in Yushu County should be strengthened, with special attention paid to control over Hg sources in the densely populated areas. |
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