Status Assessment, Spatial Distribution and HealthRisk of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils AroundMining-Impacted Communities in China

Abstract

China holds diversified mineral resources, and long term mining activities can significantly affect the enrichment of heavy metals (HMs) in agricultural soils. A systematic investigation and overall macro-evaluation on HMs contamination in agricultural soils around mining-impacted communities are urgently needed. International and China national databases were retrieved carefully with the search criteria for articles published from 2007 to 2018. Ultimately, 92 articles fit the inclusion criteria and were selected for further analysis. Based on the collected data, this study then discusses the overall status of HMs concentrations in agricultural soils around the mining-impacted communities and evaluates the pollution levels using the geoaccumulation index. To quantify the non-carcinogenic risks of HMs in soils pose to human health via oral ingestion, the recommended model was applied in the process of health risk assessment, along with Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were performed. The results revealed that HMs pollution concentrations and associated ecological risks posed by Cd, Pb and Hg were more serious. Meanwhile, the spatial distribution characteristics suggested that HMs (except for Hg) in southern China generally were severer than those in northern China. Based on the result of human health risk assessment, Cd, As and Pb posed health risks to public in some agricultural sampling sites. It should be noted that 34.02%, 32.99% and 30.93% of HI outputs for children, adults females and males respectively was higher than the guideline value of 1, indicating that children were likely to have an exceptionally sensitive of exposure to environmental contaminants because the unique physiological characteristics and behavioral compared to adults. The results from this study may provide insights for policymakers to develop pollution prevention measures and management strategies in China.