『Abstract
An investigation was carried out to survey the magnitude and
spatial distribution of heavy metals, as well as their relation
with soil series, in a valley plain in Southeastern China. Soil
was sampled at 159 sites by combining a squared grid and nested
sampling strategies along the transect perpendicular to the Qujiang
River in Zhejiang Province, China. Total concentrations of six
metals, namely Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn, were measured. Classical
statistics and geostatistics were used to quantify their spatial
characteristics. There was a considerable variation in many of
these parameters. The total concentrations ranged from 6.8 to
29.3 mg kg-1 for Cu, 6,784 to 18,678 mg kg-1
for Fe, 94 to 385 mg kg-1 for Mn, 6.1 to 20.3 mg kg-1
for Ni, 25.0 to 49.5 mg kg-1 for Pb, and 12 to 160
mg kg-1 for Zn. Pearson correlation coefficients among
total metal concentrations and selected soil properties showed
a number of strong associations. By virtue of analysis of variance,
a predominant influence of soil series on the spatial variability
of metal concentrations was observed. All metals were spatially
correlated. The semi-variograms of Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn were
dominated by short range correlation (600 or 700 m), and that
of Pb by long range (1200 m). Block kriging maps of total metal
concentrations and soil properties showed strip distributions,
perpendicular to the river, in the manner similar to the soil
series. Principal component analysis was run to identify common
distribution patterns of heavy metals and soil properties. These
results illustrate that soil series information of valley plain
may be useful for developing management zones for site-specific
agriculture.
Keywords: Valley plain; Heavy metals; Spatial variability; Soil
series』
Introduction
Materials and methods
Site description
Soil sampling and analyses
Data processing
Results
Exploratory data analysis
Correlation analysis
ANOVA analysis
Spatial analysis
Principal component analysis
Discussion
Acknowledgments
References