Statistical approaches for identification and quantification of soil trace elemental pollution near the traffic way

Abstract

The concentrations of eight trace elements (As, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn) in the soil near a traffic way of Suzhou, Anhui province, China have been determined for the pollution assessment and source identification (along with quantification). The results indicate that Fe is the most abundant element followed by Mn, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu, Co and As. These elements have low-medium coefficients of variation (0.059 – 0.293), indicating that some of them might have multisources. The combination of single pollution, geoaccumulation and the Nemerow composite indices suggest that the soils in this study are slightly polluted. Based on multivariate statistical analyses (including correlation, cluster and factor analyses), three sources responsible for the trace elemental concentrations in the soils have been identified, including geogenic, agricultural and traffic-related sources. Their mean contributions calculated based on the Unmix model are 35.9, 31.8 and 32.4%, respectively.