title: Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations.
abstract: The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest geographical unit in the world. Thus, it serves an important role in evaluating long-term ecologic conditions and environmental status and changes over time. This study summarizes major and trace element concentrations in biota and in water and soil. It also pays attention to gaseous pollutant and particle concentrations in air around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The degree of soil heavy metal contamination and the water heavy metal hazard index were respectively evaluated. The contamination degrees of two sampling areas around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reached extremely high levels with soil mCd (modified degree of contamination) values exceeding 20. Surprisingly, over 54% of sampling areas showed moderate or more serious soil contamination degree (mCd>1.5). Moreover, the hazard indexes of two important rivers were 1.56 and 7.59, reaching unacceptable level. The potential risk might be beyond our expectation. Therefore, it should be an urgent and top priority to identify and confirm possible pollution sources around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Then, it is imperative to implement feasible and effective environmental quality control strategies.
authors: Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai 810008, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: junwu@isl.ac.cn.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Wu
authors: Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai 810008, People's Republic of China.
authors: Dongping
authors: D
authors: Duan
authors: Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong 264003, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: jlu@yic.ac.cn.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Lu
authors: Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong 264003, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yongming
authors: Y
authors: Luo
authors: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xiaohu
authors: X
authors: Wen
authors: Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai 810008, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xiaoying
authors: X
authors: Guo
authors: Indian River Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Fort Pierce, FL 34945-3138, USA.
authors: Brian J
authors: BJ
authors: Boman
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D018609:Tibet
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Aerosol; Particle; Risk analysis; The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Trace elements