Health risks of heavy metals in sewage-irrigated soils and edible seeds in Langfang of Hebei province, China.

Background: Human exposure to heavy metals is attributed to consumption of food crops grown in polluted soil environment. The objective of our study was to assess the health risks of heavy metals in edible seeds of crops grown in sewage-irrigated soils located in the Langfang of Hebei province, China. Here, heavy metal contents in soils and plants were determined using an internal standard and high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Retrospection of recent 30-year changes in the process of soil wind erosion in the Luanhe River Source Area of North China using Cesium-137.

The Luanhe River Source Area belongs to typical semi-arid, agro-pastoral ecotone of North China. It is very important for the prevention and treatment of soil erosion in North China to analyze and evaluate quantitatively the recent 30-year changes in the process of soil wind erosion in this area. Based on long field observations, soil samples from different depths in a representative wind-deposited soil profile in the Luanhe River Source Area were collected.