AI Article Synopsis

  • The study examines the release of pollutants from permafrost due to global warming, focusing on soil samples from the Tuotuo River area in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
  • It identifies higher average levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) compared to regional background values, indicating moderate contamination, particularly with As, Cd, and Pb.
  • The ecological risk assessment reveals a moderate level of risk, with cadmium posing the highest ecological threat, and the analysis suggests different sources for various pollutants, such as natural origins for some and human activities for others.

Article Abstract

Against the backdrop of global warming, the pollutants that were once "temporarily stored" in the permafrost are gradually being released, posing significant impacts on the environment. This has become an internationally focused hot topic. In this study, the contents of 11 elements such as As, Ti, Cd, Cr, Co, Mn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn and V in soil samples from 128 sampling points in the freeze-thaw area of the Tuotuo River in the source region of the Yangtze River on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were determined to evaluate the possible sources, contamination status and ecological, environmental and health risks of these elements. The mean values of As, Cd, Pb and Zn were higher than the corresponding Tibet soil background values. Among fourteen PTEs, As, Cd and Pb had the highest average values of enrichment factor and pollution index, indicating that freeze-thaw area soils showed moderate enrichment and pollution with As, Cd and Pb. Mean ecological risk factor (ER) of Cd was 109 and other PTEs mean ER values < 40, whereas ecological risk index (RI) values of all PTEs ranged from 59.5 to 880 and mean RI values was 152, indicating moderate ecological risk in study area. Explanatory power q value of total S (TS) content was 0.217 by GeogDetector, indicating TS was the most significant contributing factor to RI. Correlation analysis and PCA analysis showed that Cr, Cu, Ni, Co, Mn, Ti, V were mainly originated from natural sources, Cd, Pb and Zn from traffic activity, As from long-distance migration-freeze-thaw.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11457720PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-02161-6DOI Listing

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