Urban Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals Partnering with Soil Ecology and Tillage for Sustainable Agriculture.
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Investigations on heavy metal contamination that have been conducted over the past ten years in several Chinese cities are reviewed in this study. In this study, heavy metal concentrations, sources, contamination levels, sample collecting methods, and analytical instruments were compared and discussed in great detail for urban soils, urban road dusts, and agricultural soils. According to the findings, practically every concentration of Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, As, Hg, and Cd is greater than background soil levels in China. The levels of heavy metal contamination throughout the cities differ widely. According to the geoaccumulation index, urban soils and road dusts in cities are heavily contaminated with Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd. In general, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd contamination levels are higher than those of Ni and Cr.