IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2022i1p75-d1010051.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Source Apportionment and Risk Assessment of Soil Heavy Metals due to Railroad Activity Using a Positive Matrix Factorization Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Wang

    (The School of Public Administration, Southwest University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China)

  • Jianqiang Zhang

    (Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China)

  • Izumi Watanabe

    (Graduate School, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 1838509, Japan)

Abstract

The effects of railway operation on soil environments are an important topic. In this research, soil samples were collected from two diesel-driven railways and two electric railways in Japan. A positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was applied to investigate the sources of eight heavy metals in the soil near the railways. The results showed that railway operation was the dominant anthropogenic source of heavy metals in the soil in the study areas among five potential sources, with contributions ranging from 11.73% to 42.55%. Compared with that of electricity-driven railways, the effect of diesel-driven railways was larger. The environmental risk-assessment analysis suggested that the soils near the selected railways fall within the weak-to-extremely strong contamination category, and experienced moderate-to-extremely strong ecological risk. A health risk assessment revealed that the soil presented both noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks for children, with ingestion as the principal exposure pathway. The PMF-Environment Risk Assessment and PMF-Human Health Risk Assessment models were developed to obtain the ecological and human health risks for every source category. Railway operation was regarded as the major factor influencing ecology and human health at the diesel-driven railway sampling sites. However, at electricity-driven railway sampling sites, natural sources were dominant.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Wang & Jianqiang Zhang & Izumi Watanabe, 2022. "Source Apportionment and Risk Assessment of Soil Heavy Metals due to Railroad Activity Using a Positive Matrix Factorization Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2022:i:1:p:75-:d:1010051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/1/75/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/1/75/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dongyue Li & Yilan Liao, 2018. "Spatial Characteristics of Heavy Metals in Street Dust of Coal Railway Transportation Hubs: A Case Study in Yuanping, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Guangcai Yin & Hanghai Zhu & Zhiliang Chen & Chuanghong Su & Zechen He & Xinglin Chen & Jinrong Qiu & Tieyu Wang, 2021. "Spatial Distribution and Source Apportionment of Soil Heavy Metals in Pearl River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Shiyi Wang & Yanbin Zhang & Jieliang Cheng & Yi Li & Feng Li & Yan Li & Zhou Shi, 2022. "Pollution Assessment and Source Apportionment of Soil Heavy Metals in a Coastal Industrial City, Zhejiang, Southeastern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cheng Han & Jilong Lu & Shengbo Chen & Xitong Xu & Zibo Wang & Zheng Pei & Yu Zhang & Fengxuan Li, 2021. "Estimation of Heavy Metal(Loid) Contents in Agricultural Soil of the Suzi River Basin Using Optimal Spectral Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    2. Ming Li & Rujia Wang & Gang Li & Xinzhu Song & Huaizhen Yang & Huinan Lai, 2022. "Comprehensive Chemical Dust Suppressant Performance Evaluation and Optimization Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Wenyu Ma & Yuchun Pan & Zaijin Sun & Changhua Liu & Xiaolan Li & Li Xu & Yunbing Gao, 2023. "Input Flux and the Risk of Heavy Metal(Loid) of Agricultural Soil in China: Based on Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity from 2000 to 2021," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, June.
    4. Shuya Tang & Chunhui Wang & Jing Song & Stanley Chukwuemeka Ihenetu & Gang Li, 2024. "Advances in Studies on Heavy Metals in Urban Soil: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-24, January.
    5. Ting Sun & Jingling Huang & Yuying Wu & Yuan Yuan & Yujing Xie & Zhengqiu Fan & Zhijian Zheng, 2020. "Risk Assessment and Source Apportionment of Soil Heavy Metals under Different Land Use in a Typical Estuary Alluvial Island," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-20, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2022:i:1:p:75-:d:1010051. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.