The distribution of soil heavy metal contamination and source apportionment in typical shale gas extraction sites in fuling, Chongqing Karst Areas

BAI Hong-cheng; ZHANG Xiao-qian; ZHANG Xin-yue; PENG Si-yu; WANG Xing

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China Environmental Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (1) : 1-10.

The distribution of soil heavy metal contamination and source apportionment in typical shale gas extraction sites in fuling, Chongqing Karst Areas

BAI Hong-cheng¹, ZHANG Xiao-qian², ZHANG Xin-yue¹, PENG Si-yu¹, WANG Xing³

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Abstract

Dust pollution data (particles<920μm) collected across China from 2000 to 2023 were integrated. The results showed that heavy metal contamination in road dust was generally higher than in soils,yet evaluation methods produced inconsistent conclusions. Therefore, a risk assessment system tailored to the unique characteristics of dust was considered essential.The spatial distribution of urban road dust pollution in China showed a steadily increasing severity from the northwest to the southeast, and pollution sources were found to be complex. Source control alone was found to be insufficient to ensure long-term effectiveness, necessitating an adaptive governance approach. Based on the resilience governance concept, anovel urban road dust pollution risk assessment system was constructedusing the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and entropy weight method, incorporating a socio-ecological perspective. An empirical analysis of 31 cities classified them into five clusters: high-pressure-risk, high-response-risk, combined high-state-response-risk, combined high-state-pressure-risk, and low-risk—yielding tiered and category-specific recommendations: priority population-exposure studies in dense traffic areas, establishment of dust-monitoring and feedback networks, targeted abatement of centralized emission sources, enhanced early-warning systems for extreme-weather dust events, and fixed-site surveillance in sensitive zones.

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shale gas / Karst regions / soil and groundwater / heavy metal / source apportionment / risk assessment

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BAI Hong-cheng, ZHANG Xiao-qian, ZHANG Xin-yue, PENG Si-yu, WANG Xing. The distribution of soil heavy metal contamination and source apportionment in typical shale gas extraction sites in fuling, Chongqing Karst Areas[J]. China Environmental Science. 2026, 46(1): 1-10

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