Environ Monit Assess. 2026 Apr 6;198(5):409. doi: 10.1007/s10661-026-15293-2.
ABSTRACT
Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) pollution of reclamation soils is becoming an important issue in coal mining subsidence areas due to its impacts on environment and human health. To investigate the spatial and temporal distribution, pollution characteristics, bioaccumulation, ecological and health risk of the soils under different reclamation modes in coal mining subsidence areas, 126 soil samples and 42 crop samples were collected and analyzed from coal gangue filling areas (CG), lake sediment filling areas (LS) and land leveling areas (LL). While the results showed that PTEs concentrations were lower than the soil environment quality risk control standard-indicating a low risk of soil pollution for this agricultural land-the levels of heavy metals in the three reclamation areas all exceeded, to varying degrees, the background values for Jiangsu Province. This exceedance of the background levels still poses an ecological risk. The distributions in the soil profile of PTEs had no obvious regularity and the PTEs concentrations also fluctuated irregularly with the extension of the reclamation time. The Cd and Hg were in “moderate pollution” while other analyzed metals were in “no pollution to medium pollution” based on the mean values of Igeo. Soil PTEs pollution status followed the sequence of CG (PLI = 1.85) > LS (PLI = 1.55) > LL (PLI = 0.97). Meanwhile, the results of the RI revealed that the CG, LS, and LL area were ecologically in “considerable risk” (RI: 535.97 to 314.57), “moderate risk” (RI: 218.90 to 51.71), and “low risk” (RI: 126.33 to 59.11). In addition, crops had a strong enrichment capacity for Cd, and Hg in the CG, LS, and LL areas. Health risk assessment showed that the non-carcinogenic health risks were not expected for adults while the children were prone to non-carcinogenic health risks. The new exploration can provide some insight into the contamination characteristics, ecological and human health risk of soil PTEs under different reclamation modes, which is useful for soil pollution prevention and reclamation planning.
PMID:41941010 | DOI:10.1007/s10661-026-15293-2
