High background of soil heavy metals developed from carbonate rocks: issues about formation and risk

LI Ya-nan; XIA Xue-qi; YANG Zhong-fang; LU Xin-zhe; HUANG Chun-lei

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China Environmental Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (1) : 11-19.

High background of soil heavy metals developed from carbonate rocks: issues about formation and risk

LI Ya-nan¹, XIA Xue-qi¹, YANG Zhong-fang¹, LU Xin-zhe², HUANG Chun-lei²

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Abstract

The research progress of high background of soil heavy metals related to carbonate rocks was systematically reviewed from the aspects of spatial distribution, element combination, spatial coverage, controlling factors, formation process, and risk characteristics. At present, it was generally believed that the main causation for the formation of this type of high background was the “secondary enrichment” of elements in the weathering process of parent rock, that is, the leaching of major elements, e.g. Ca, caused the relative enrichment of trace elements, e.g. Cd. In this process, iron and manganese minerals played an important role in the in-situ concentration of these elements. From the geographical perspective, the hot and humid climate was conducive to the formation of a higher background content. In general, Cd and other elements in soil developed from carbonate eluvium had the character of “high background with low activity”, while in the alluvial areas formed by carbonate weathered materials, high acid soluble state of Cd might have occurred with risks of activation under conditions such as soil acidification. With high spatial variation of soil heavy metals in such areas, especially in the medium and small spatial scales, problems such as differentiation between natural background and anthropogenic pollution, quantitative recognition of relative risks, and development of control measures for environmental management, were required to be solved in the future study.

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soil / heavy metals / high geochemical background / carbonate rocks / causes of formation / risk characteristics

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LI Ya-nan, XIA Xue-qi, YANG Zhong-fang, LU Xin-zhe, HUANG Chun-lei. High background of soil heavy metals developed from carbonate rocks: issues about formation and risk[J]. China Environmental Science. 2026, 46(1): 11-19

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