TITLE:
Heavy Metal Risk Assessment of Soils and Crops in the Intensive Mining Area of Gejiu, Yunnan Province
AUTHORS:
Sijing Sun, Chunyu Dong, Hao Zhang, Haichan Yang, Naiming Zhang, Li Bao
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metal Pollution, Cadmium, Arsenic, Risk Assessment, Mining Areas
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.10 No.11,
November
22,
2022
ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the heavy metal contamination of soil-crop in
mining-intensive areas of Gejiu stannary in Yunnan Province and its risk to
human health, the single-factor contamination index method and the Nemero
comprehensive contamination index method were used to evaluate the
contamination risk of heavy metals (Cd and As) in the soil of mining-intensive
areas, and the health risk evaluation model was used to study the risk brought
by residents through the consumption of maize, wheat and broad beans. The
results showed that the mean values of total As and Cd in the soil of the study
area were 146 and 2.32 mg·kg-1, which were 8 and 10.5 times higher
than the background values of soil environment in Yunnan Province and belonged
to heavy pollution; the enrichment coefficients of As and Cd in maize were 0.1%
and 5.7%, in wheat were 0.3% and 11.5%, in fava beans were 0.1% and 4.9%; the soil
contamination indices in the four study areas of A, B, C, and D were 7.275,
6.797, 5.618, and 5.060, respectively. The results indicated that the soils in
the study areas belonged to heavy contamination levels, and the enrichment
ability of Cd in all three crops was stronger than that of As, with wheat being
the strongest, As in the three crops and Cd in broad beans might be harmful to
children. As in wheat and broad beans may be harmful to adults.