IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3738-d1638953.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of Heavy Metal Sources and Sustainability: Human Health Risk Assessment of Typical Agricultural Soils in Tianjin, North China Plain

Author

Listed:
  • Ling Zhu

    (Tianjin Eco-Environmental Monitoring Center, Tianjin 300191, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Kun Liu

    (Tianjin Eco-Environmental Monitoring Center, Tianjin 300191, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Jiong Zhou

    (China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing 100012, China
    State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Quality Control in Environmental Monitoring, China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing 100012, China)

  • Lanlan Li

    (Tianjin Eco-Environmental Monitoring Center, Tianjin 300191, China)

Abstract

Tianjin is a typical industrialized city of 13.64 million people, and the urbanization rate is 85.49%. The risk of heavy metals in the soils of the typical agricultural land around Tianjin poses a significant challenge to the sustainability of the ecosystem’s health and human health. Different heavy metals in different land-use types in Tianjin have all accumulated in the soils, and the vegetable base had the highest total of accumulated heavy metals. This study took the surface soil of farmland Xiqing District—the main vegetable and crop area in Tianjin—as the research object, and the concentrations of eight heavy metals were analyzed. The geo-accumulation index ( I geo ), principal component analysis (PCA), absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS–MLR), positive definite matrix factorization (PMF), and health risk assessment model were used to evaluate the degree, sources, and health risks (to adults and children) of heavy metal pollution. This study compares the APCS–MLR model with the PMF model. The results showed that Cd and Hg pollution were the most severe among the eight heavy metals in agricultural soil, with the average values exceeding the background by 151.9% and 324.1%, respectively. About 15% of the sites were at moderate to severe pollution levels. The PMF model can better analyze the sources of heavy metals in the study area, showing that the main sources of heavy metal pollution include natural source, mixed source of agriculture and transportation, coal combustion source, and pesticide source. The total carcinogenic risk index (TCR) of natural source is the highest, with Cr being the main contributor to maximum total non-carcinogenic risk indices (HI) and TCR for children; Hg contributes the most to HI in the coal combustion source, while Cu and Zn contributes most in the mixed source of agriculture and transportation.

Suggested Citation

  • Ling Zhu & Kun Liu & Jiong Zhou & Lanlan Li, 2025. "Analysis of Heavy Metal Sources and Sustainability: Human Health Risk Assessment of Typical Agricultural Soils in Tianjin, North China Plain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3738-:d:1638953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3738/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3738/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zheng Cai & Xiuli Yang, 2023. "Research on Restoration of Heavy Metal Contaminated Farmland Based on Restoration Ecological Compensation Mechanism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Dejun Yang & Yong Yang & Yipei Hua, 2023. "Source Analysis Based on the Positive Matrix Factorization Models and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Honghua Chen & Xinxin Sun & Longhui Sun & Yunce An & Ying Xiao & Jintao Zhang & Yunpeng Hong & Xiaodong Song, 2024. "A Comprehensive Study of Spatial Distribution, Pollution Risk Assessment, and Source Apportionment of Topsoil Heavy Metals and Arsenic," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Hanxiu Hu & Linlin Gao & Huimin Zhang & Xiaotian Zhou & Jing Zheng & Jingyi Hu & Hongxiang Hu & Youhua Ma, 2022. "Effectiveness of Passivator Amendments and Optimized Fertilization for Ensuring the Food Safety of Rice and Wheat from Cadmium-Contaminated Farmland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Rui Zhang & Tao Chen & Lijie Pu & Lu Qie & Sihua Huang & Dejing Chen, 2023. "Current Situation of Agricultural Soil Pollution in Jiangsu Province: A Meta-Analysis," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, February.
    6. Xinyuan Guo & Jizhi Li & Zejian Lin & Li Ma, 2024. "The Impact of Environmental Regulation and Technical Cognition on Farmers’ Adoption of Safety Agro-Utilization of Heavy Metal-Contaminated Farmland Soil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Yongqiang Ning & Bizheng Yang & Shaochen Yang & Jiaxin Ye & Junjie Li & Limin Ren & Zhifu Liu & Xiangyang Bi & Jinling Liu, 2023. "Application of Pb Isotopes and REY Patterns in Tracing Heavy Metals in Farmland Soils from the Upper-Middle Area of Yangtze River," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Qi Liu & Sheng Wang & Jijiang Zhou & Li Bao & Wenbing Zhou & Naiming Zhang, 2025. "Accumulation and Transport of Cd, Pb, As, and Cr in Different Maize Varieties in Southwest China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    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. Sami Asir Al-Robai, 2023. "Ecological Risk Evaluation of Heavy Metals in Soils near a Water Dam in Baljurashi, KSA, and Their Accumulation in Dodonaea viscosa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Xiekui Zhang & Lijun Wu & Zefeng Zhang, 2024. "Does Air Quality Ecological Compensation Improve Total Factor Energy Efficiency?—A Quasi-Natural Experiment from 282 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Yuchen Xu & Jianan Zheng & Yuhan Cao & Qingfeng Jiang, 2025. "Policy Adjustments: Their Dual Impacts and Sustainability Assessment on Heavy Metal Concentration in Topsoil of Nantong City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Yongqiang Ning & Minglong Yang & Chutong Liu & Jiazhong Huang & Tianyi Wang & Yong Pang & Quanheng Li, 2025. "Effect of Weathering on Cd Mobilization in Different Sedimentary Bedrock Soils," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Jiajun Zhang & Junsheng Peng & Xingyi Chen & Xinyi Shi & Ziwei Feng & Yichen Meng & Wende Chen & Yingping Liu, 2024. "Comparative Study on Different Interpolation Methods and Source Analysis of Soil Toxic Element Pollution in Cangxi County, Guangyuan City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Hangfeng Qu & Xibin Dong & Baoshan Zhang & Hui Liu & Tong Gao & Yuan Meng & Yunze Ren & Ying Zhang, 2024. "Evaluation of Ecological Function Restoration Effect for Degraded Natural Forests in Xiaoxinganling, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-24, February.
    7. Luxiang Cai & Jinlun Lin & Mingtian Huang & Yong Hong & Xuemeng Zhong & Yourui Guo & Wu You & Qingtie Xiao & Ruiyu Lin, 2024. "Effects of Different Remediation Treatments and Rice Intercropping on the Integrated Quality of Paddy Soils Mildly Contaminated by Cadmium and Copper," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-20, December.

    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:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3738-:d:1638953. 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.