Pedosphere 16(6): 690--698, 2006
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2006 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
Spatial patterns of soil heavy metals in urban-rural transition zone of Beijing
HU Ke-Lin1, ZHANG Feng-Rong1, LI Hong1,2, HUANG Feng1 and LI Bao-Guo1
1 College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094 (China). E-mail: hukel@cau.edu.cn
2 Texas A & M University, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Bushland, TX 79012 (USA)
ABSTRACT
      To identify the main sources responsible for soil heavy metal contamination, 70 topsoils were sampled from the Daxing County in the urban-rural transition zone of Beijing. The concentrations of heavy metals Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni, As, Se, Hg, and Co; the soil texture; and the organic matter content were determined for each soil sample. Descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the data, and Kriging analysis was used to estimate the unobserved points and to map the spatial patterns of soil heavy metals. The results showed that the concentrations of all the soil heavy metals exceeded their background levels with the exception of As and Se. However, only the Cd concentration in some areas exceeded the critical value of the national soil quality standard. The semivariance analysis showed that the spatial correlation distances for soil Cu, Zn, Cr, Cd, As, Ni, and Co ranged from 4.0 to 7.0 km, but soil Se, Pb, and Hg had a larger correlation distance. Soil Co, Se, Cd, Cu and Zn showed a strong spatial correlation, whereas the other soil heavy metals showed medium spatial correlation. Soil heavy metal concentrations were related to soil texture, organic matter content, and the accumulation of heavy metals in the soils, which was because of air deposition and use of water from the Liangshui, Xinfeng, and Fenghe rivers that are contaminated by wastewater and sewage for the purpose of irrigation of fields. Hence, a comprehensive treatment plan for these rivers should be formulated.
Key Words:  geostatistics, heavy metal, soil contamination, soil texture, spatial variability
Citation: Hu, K. L., Zhang, F. R., Li, H., Huang, F. and Li, B. G. 2006. Spatial patterns of soil heavy metals in urban-rural transition zone of Beijing. Pedosphere. 16(6): 690-698.
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