Soil and maize contamination by trace elements and associated health risk assessment in the industrial area of Volos, Greece
Journal
Environment International
Journal Volume
124
Pages
79-88
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Abstract
Agricultural lands adjacent to industrial activities are vulnerable due to the risk of trace elements (TEs) being accumulated into crops and subsequently humans. One such case concerns the industrial area of Volos, Greece, a suspected contaminated area which has never been studied. We measured Ag, Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Tl, V, and Zn in soil and maize (leaves and grains) and assessed health risk of human exposure via soil ingestion and grain consumption. We found that the most highly enriched elements in soils were Tl (enrichment factor = 19), Se (17.68), Sb (14.81), As (7.89), Ni (6.91), Mo (5.22) and Cr (4.33); they all likely derived from anthropogenic activities and in particular from a nearby major steel factory, except for Ni which is known to be lithogenically elevated in that area. Synchrotron XANES spectra analysis revealed that As species were associated with ferrihydrite, and predominant species were As(V) (at ca. 85%) and As(III) (at ca. 15%). Although the total content of the studied elements was high, the ammonium bicarbonate-DTPA extractions recovered very low element concentrations, probably due to the fact that soil conditions decelerated solubility (i.e., soils were alkaline, clayey, and with high Fe oxides content). This was confirmed by the soil-to-grain transfer index, which was particularly low for all studied elements. In 5% of sampled grains concerning Cd, and in 40% concerning Pb, the European food-related regulation limits were surpassed. Health risk assessment showed a dramatically elevated risk for Tl via soil ingestion (hazard quotient, HQ = 2.399), a value that contributed 74% of the total risk. Similarly, concerning the grain consumption-related health risk, Tl was the predominant contributor (HQ = 0.128, contributing 40% of the total risk). Such elevated Tl risk which has rarely been reported previously, led to a considerably high hazard index (HI) well above the threshold of HI = 1. Cancer risk was below the 1 × 10?4 risk threshold for As and Pb. Our findings indicate that this study should be pivotal concerning similar industrially-affected agricultural soils of suspected contamination, since less-expected toxic elements such as Tl here may be primary contributors to health risk. ? 2018 Elsevier Ltd
Subjects
Corn; Heavy metals; Pollution indices; Steel factory
SDGs
Other Subjects
Agricultural robots; Aluminum coated steel; Ammonium bicarbonate; Grain (agricultural product); Hazards; Health; Health risks; Heavy metals; Iron oxides; Nickel; Soil pollution; Soils; Trace elements; Anthropogenic activity; Contaminated areas; Corn; Element concentrations; Enrichment factors; Industrial activities; Pollution index; Steel factories; Risk assessment; aluminum; ammonia; antimony; aspartic acid; bicarbonate; cadmium; chromium; cobalt; copper; diazepam; ferric hydroxide; iron; iron oxide; lead; manganese; molybdenum; nickel; selenium; silver; thallium; tin; trace element; zinc; heavy metal; trace element; health risk; heavy metal; maize; pollution exposure; risk assessment; soil pollution; trace element; agricultural land; Article; cancer risk; controlled study; crop; grain; Greece; health hazard; industrial area; maize; nonhuman; plant leaf; priority journal; risk assessment; soil pollution; solubility; spectroscopy; chemistry; environmental monitoring; food contamination; human; industry; maize; risk assessment; soil; soil pollutant; Greece; Magnesia; Thessaly; Volos; Zea mays; Environmental Monitoring; Food Contamination; Greece; Humans; Industry; Metals, Heavy; Risk Assessment; Soil; Soil Pollutants; Trace Elements; Zea mays
Type
journal article