Source apportionment of heavy metals in the soil at the regional scale based on soil-forming processes

Source apportionment is crucial to the prevention and control of heavy metals in the soil. The major methods focus on the identification of soil heavy metals from different pollution sources. However, they are unsuited to the source apportionment at a regional scale due to ignoring the spatial heterogeneity of heavy metal content caused by soil formation. Thus, we built a source apportionment model by introducing the weathering and leaching coefficients as the key parameters of soil-forming processes. In this study, we selected Liaohe Plain in China as the study area, which was the starting point of China's industrial development, with dense industrial areas and high levels of heavy-metal emission. Heavy metals concentrations in surface and deep soil of reference and grid points were collected as model data. The results showed that the average contribution rates of soil-forming process to Cd, Hg, As, and Pb were 82.7%, 85.2%, 88.6%, and 91.7%, respectively, and those of anthropogenic activities were 17.3%, 14.8%, 11.4%, and 8.3%, respectively. Spatial distribution of contribution rates showed the superposition of soil environmental background and pollution sources. This study provides a feasible method to quantify heavy metals contents from natural and anthropogenic sources at a regional scale. [Display omitted] •Source apportionment was built for heavy metal of surface soil at regional scale.•Data contained heavy metals in surface and deep soil of reference and grid point.•Nature source content was estimated by weathering and leaching of reference point.•Anthropogenic content was calculated by regression coefficient and grid point value.