Pollution Characteristics and Associated Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Farmland Soils From a Typical County of Hubei Province, Central China

Knowledge from the negative impacts of the counties’ anthropogenic activities on soil pollution was of great significance in China, and valuable information was urgently needed for the control and remediation of soil pollution. The current pollution levels of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, and Cr) in farmland soils were investigated in Yangxin County, Hubei Province, central China. The comprehensive results of quantitative comparison and evaluation in this study showed that Cu (144.9 ± 298.6 mg kg−1), Cd (2.9 ± 1.6 mg kg−1), and Ni (137.0 ± 111.0 mg kg−1) posed higher pollution risks to public and ecosystem health, which were higher than the corresponding soil background values. The combined results of geostatistics, spatial and statistical analysis indicated that studied heavy metals were mainly attributed to agricultural, traffic and industrial induced pollution. Overall, urgent attention should be paid to the risk reduction and management of soil Cu, Cd, and Ni pollution in the study area.