Heavy Metal Pollution in Settled Dust Associated with Different Urban Functional Areas in a Heavily Air-Polluted City in North China.
Understanding variations of heavy metals in atmospheric particles between different functional areas is significant for pollution control and urban planning in cities. To reveal pollution and spatial distribution of heavy metals in atmospheric particles from different urban functional areas in Shijiazhuang in North China, 43 settled dust samples were collected over the main urban area and heavy metal concentrations were determined in their <63 μm fractions using an ICP-OES. The results suggest that Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and V in the dust are not or slightly enriched and their concentrations vary slightly between different sites, implying their natural origins; whereas Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb are often notably enriched and their concentrations vary significantly between different functional areas, indicating their anthropogenic sources. Integrated pollution indexes (IPIs) of the ten heavy metals are 2.7-13.6 (5.7 ± 2.2), suggesting high or very high pollution levels of most dust. Relatively lower IPIs occur mainly in the administration-education area, the commercial area, and other unclassified sites; while peaks occur mainly in the North Railway Station, the northeastern industrial area, and some sites near heavily trafficked areas, implying the significant influence of intensive industrial (including coal combustion) and traffic activities on atmospheric heavy metal accumulation. These results suggest a clear need of mitigating atmospheric heavy metal pollution via controlling emissions of toxic metals (especially Cd and Pb) from industrial and traffic sources in the city.
College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China. dejunwan@foxmail.com.
Dejun
D
Wan
Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Exploration and Utilization, Xi'an 710054, China. han10260@163.com.
Zhangxiong
Z
Han
Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China. yjs607@163.com.
Jinsong
J
Yang
Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China. yucb8688@163.com.
Guanglin
G
Yang
College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China. xqliu@niglas.ac.cn.
Xingqi
X
Liu
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
D004391:Dust; D019216:Metals, Heavy
Shijiazhuang; atmospheric particle; different functional area; enrichment factor; heavy metal; integrated pollution index; spatial distribution