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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Two-Dimensional Visualization and Quantification of Labile, Inorganic Plant Nutrients and Contaminants in Soil
Published on: September 1, 2020
Heavy metal sources identification and sampling uncertainty analysis in a field-scale vegetable soil of Hangzhou,
Tao Chen1, Xingmei Liu, Xia Li
1Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Subtropical Soil and Plant Nutrition, Hangzhou 310029, PR China.
Abstract:
At a field-scale (6.7ha), 100 surface soil samples were collected from a vegetable field to determine total concentrations of Cd, Co, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni and Zn. To identify possible sources of these metals and characterize their spatial variation, classic statistic and geostatistic techniques were applied. Through correlation and geostatistical analysis, it was found that the primary inputs of Co, Mn and Ni were due to pedogenic sources, whereas the sources of Hg and Cd were mainly due to human activities. Because of their different sources, their variations followed: Hg>Cd approximately Cu>Zn approximately Co approximately Mn approximately Ni. Based on their relationships with other soil properties, co-kriging was used to minimize sampling density. Sampling numbers for Cd, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co and Ni can be reduced from 100 to 90, 80, 70, 60, 60 and 60, respectively, without losing accuracy relative to ordinary kriging.
