title: Accumulation, sources and health risks of trace metals in elevated geochemical background soils used for greenhouse vegetable production in southwestern China.
abstract: Greenhouse vegetable cultivation with substantive manure and fertilizer input on soils with an elevated geochemical background can accumulate trace metals in soils and plants leading to human health risks. Studies on trace metal accumulation over a land use shift duration in an elevated geochemical background scenario are lacking. Accumulation characteristics of seven trace metals in greenhouse soil and edible plants were evaluated along with an assessment of the health risk to the consumers. A total of 118 greenhouse surface soils (0-20cm) and 30 vegetables were collected from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwestern China, and analyzed for total Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Hg, and Cr content by ICP-MS and AFS. The trace metals were ordered Cu>Cd>Hg>Zn>Pb>As>Cr in greenhouse soils accumulation level, and the geo-accumulation index suggested the soil more severely polluted with Cd, Cu, Hg and Zn. The greenhouse and open-field soils had significant difference in Cd, Cr and Zn. The duration of shift from paddy to greenhouse land-use significantly influenced trace metal accumulation with a dramatic change during five to ten year greenhouse land-use, and continuous increase of Cd and Hg. A spatial pattern from north to south for Cd and Hg and a zonal pattern for Cu and Zn were found. An anthropogenic source primarily caused trace metal accumulation, where the principal component analysis/multiple linear regression indicated a contribution 61.2%. While the assessment showed no potential risk for children and adults, the hazard health risks index was greater than one for adolescents. The extended duration of land use as greenhouses caused the trace metal accumulation, rotation in land use should be promoted to reduce the health risks.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Haidong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: bhuang@issas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Linlin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Wenyou
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Department of Soil Science and Soil Water Conservation, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan and Visiting Professor at Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Mohammad Saleem
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Mingkai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014131:Trace Elements; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Elevated geochemical background; Greenhouse soil; Human health risk; Source identification; Trace metal accumulation