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Environmental Management (2017) 59:522530 DOI 10.1007/s00267-016-0796-x
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
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Web End = Assessment of the Spatial Distribution of Metal(Oid)s in Soils Around an Abandoned Pb-Smelter Plant
Nielson Machado dos Santos1 Clstenes Williams Arajo do Nascimento1 Jrg Matschullat2 Ricardo Alves de Olinda3
Received: 19 May 2016 / Accepted: 31 October 2016 / Published online: 8 November 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Todos os Santos (All Saints) Bay area, NE-Brazil, is known for one of the most important cases of urban lead (Pb) contamination in the world. The main objective of this work was to assess and interpret the spatial distribution of As, Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn in background soils of this environmentally impacted bay area, using a combination of geostatistical and multivariate analytical methods to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic sources of those metal(oid)s in soils. We collected 114 topsoil samples(0.00.2 m depth) from 38 sites. The median values for trace metal concentrations in soils (mg kg1) followed the order Pb (33.9) > Zn (8.8) > As (1.2) > Cd (0.2) > Hg(0.07), clearly reecting a Pb-contamination issue. Principal component analysis linked Cd, Pb, and Zn to the same factor (F1), chiey corroborating their anthropogenic origin; yet, both Pb and Zn are also inuenced by natural lithogenic sources. Arsenic and Hg concentrations (F2) are likely related to the natural component alone; their parent material (igneousmetamorphic rocks) seemingly conrm this hypothesis. The heterogeneity of sources and the complexity of the spatial distribution of metals in large areas such as the Todos os Santos Bay warrant, the importance of
multivariate and geostatistical analyses in the interpretation of environmental data.
Keywords Soil pollution Soil quality Trace elements
Lead arsenic
Introduction
From a soil protection perspective (legislation), it is essential to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic inputs in order to investigate a presumed case of contamination. Concentration and distribution of trace metals in soils depend on soil parent material (lithogenic source) and on anthropogenic drivers (Alloway 2013). Trace elements are incorporated in minerals of igneous rocks during crystallization and thus occur in magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Their concentration in soil is associated with physicochemical soil properties (Nanos and Martn 2012) and reect soil age and weathering conditions. Anthropogenic drivers such as mining, industrial emissions, transport,...