Enrichment, spatial distribution of potential ecological and human health risk assessment via toxic metals in soil and surface water ingestion in the vicinity of Sewakht mines, district Chitral, Northern Pakistan.
This study focuses on enrichment, spatial distribution, potential ecological risk index (PERI) and human health risk of various toxic metals taken via soil and surface water in the vicinity of Sewakht mines, Pakistan. The samples of soils (n = 54) of different fields and surface water (n = 38) were analyzed for toxic metals including cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and molybdenum (Mo). Soil pollution level was evaluated using pollution indices including geo-accumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (CD), enrichment factor (EF) and PERI. CF showed moderate contamination of soil with Cd, Co, Fe and Mo, while Igeo values indicated moderate accumulation of Cu. For Cd, EF> 1.5 was found in agricultural soils of the study area. PERI findings presented a very high ecological risk (PERI > 380) at two sites (4%), considerable ecological risk at four sites (7.4%). Non-carcinogenic risk from exposure to Fe in soil was higher than limit (HI > 1) for both children and adults. Moreover, carcinogenic risk postured by soil contaminants i.e. Cd, Cr, Co and Ni in children was higher than their limits (except Pb), while in adults only Co posed higher risk of cancer than the limit (10-4) through soil exposure. Non-carcinogenic risks in children due to Cd, Co, Mo via surface water intake were higher than their safe limits (HQ > 1), while in adults the risk order was Cr > Cd > Cu > Pb > Co > Mo. Moreover, carcinogenic risk exposure due to Co > Cd > Cr > Ni from surface water (except Pb) was higher than the tolerable limit (1 × 10-4) both for children and adults. However, Pb concentrations in both soil and surface water exposure were not likely to cause cancer risk in the local population.
Rehman IU
,Ishaq M
,Ali L
,Khan S
,Ahmad I
,Din IU
,Ullah H
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Integrated application of multiple indicators and geographic information system-based approaches for comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts of toxic metals-contaminated agricultural soils and vegetables.
Conventional monitoring and mapping approaches are laborious, expensive, and time-consuming because they need a large number of data and consequently extensive sampling and experimental operations. Therefore, due to the growing concern about the potential of contamination of soils and agricultural products with heavy metals (HMs), a field experiment was conducted on 77 farm lands in an area of 2300 ha in the southeast of Shiraz (Iran) to investigate the source of metal contamination in the soils and vegetables and to model spatial distribution of HMs (iron, Fe; manganese, Mn; copper, Cu; zinc, Zn; cadmium, Cd; nickel, Ni, and lead, Pb) over the region using geographic information system (GIS) and geostatistical (Ordinary Kriging, OK) approaches and compare the results with deterministic approaches (Inverse Distance Weighting, IDW with different weighting power). Furthermore, some ecological and health risks indices including Pollution index (PI), Nemerow integrated pollution index (NIPI), pollution load index (PLI), degree of contamination (Cdeg), modified contamination degree (mCd), PIaverage and PIvector for soil quality, multi-element contamination (MEC), the probability of toxicity (MERMQ), the potential ecological index (RI), total hazard index (THI) and total carcinogenic risk index (TCR) based on ingestion, inhalation, and dermal exposure pathways for adults and children respectively for analyzing the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were calculated. Experimental semivariogram of the mentioned HMs were calculated and theoretical models (i.e., exponential, spherical, Gaussian, and linear models) were fitted in order to model their spatial structures and to investigate the most representative models. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to identify sources of HMs in the soils. Results showed that IDW method was more efficient than the OK approach to estimate the properties and HMs contents in the soils and plants. The estimated daily intake of metals (DIM) values of Pb and Ni exceeded their safe limits. In addition, Cd was the main element responsible for ecological risk. The PIave and PIvector indices showed that soil quality in the study area is not suitable. According to mCd values, the soils classified as ultra-high contaminated for Cu and Cd, extremely high for Zn and Pb, very high, high, and very low degree of contamination for Ni, Mn, and Fe, respectively. 36, 60, and 4 % of the sampling sites had high, medium, and low risk levels with 49, 21, and 9 % probability of toxicity, respectively. The maximum health risk index (HRI) value of 20.42 with extremely high risk for children was obtained for Ni and the HI for adults and children were 0.22 and 1.55, respectively. The THI values of Pb and Cd were the highest compared to the other HMs studied, revealing a possible non-cancer risk in children associated with exposure to these metals. The routes of exposure with the greatest influence on the THI and TCR indices were in the order of ingestion > inhalation > dermal. Therefore, ingestion, as the main route of exposure, is the route of greatest contribution to health risks. PCA analysis revealed that Fe, Mn, Cu, and Ni may originate from natural sources, while Fe was appeared to be controlled by fertilizer, and Cu primarily coming from pesticide, while Cd and Pb were mainly associated with the anthropogenic contamination, atmospheric depositions, and terrific in the urban soils. While, Zn mainly originated from fertilization. Findings are vital for developing remediation approaches for controlling the contaminants distribution as well as for monitoring and mapping the quality and health of soil resources.
Enjavinejad SM
,Zahedifar M
,Moosavi AA
,Khosravani P
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Environmental, ecological and health risks of trace elements, and their sources in soils of Harran Plain, Turkey.
Soil pollution with trace elements (TEs) has become an increasingly serious environmental concern, however, assessment of ecological and human health risks especially in intensive agricultural regions remains limited. In this study, the contents of ten TEs (Al, As, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn and Fe) in soil samples from 204 sampling sites in the Harran Plain (Turkey) were examined to evaluate possible sources, pollution status and environmental, ecological and health risks of these elements. Only As and Ni exceeded the upper continental crust concentrations. Among ten TEs, Ni and As had the highest mean values of enrichment factor (EF) and contamination factor (Cf), indicating that soils showed moderate enrichment and moderate contamination with these elements. Ecological risk factor and ecological risk index values of all samples were <40 and <150, respectively, indicating low ecological risk in the study area. Factor analysis and correlation analysis indicated that Al, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Co, Mn and Fe mainly originated from natural sources, Ni from mixed sources of anthropogenic and lithogenic origins, while arsenic primarily originated from anthropogenic activities. The hazard quotient values for both adults and children did not exceed 1, suggesting that all TEs in soil through ingestion, dermal contact and inhalation pathways had no significant non-carcinogenic risks. Children were more susceptible to non-carcinogenic health effects of TEs in soils. The carcinogenic risk values of As, Co, Cr and Ni were within the acceptable risk range, indicating that carcinogenic risks were not expected.
Varol M
,Sünbül MR
,Aytop H
,Yılmaz CH
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