Assessment of selenium pollution in agricultural soils in the Xuzhou District, Northwest Jiangsu, China

Xuzhou City is an important base for coal production and coal-fired power. To evaluate selenium contamination in this area, we sampled agricultural soil, soil profile, irrigation water, bedrock, coal, fly ash, paddy rice, and vegetables from the north of Xuzhou City, and determined their selenium co...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental sciences (China) 2009-04, Vol.21 (4), p.481-487
Main Authors: HUANG, Shunsheng, HUA, Ming, FENG, Jinshun, ZHONG, Xinyong, JIN, Yang, ZHU, Baiwan, LU, Hua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agricultural soils
Agriculture
Agronomy
Assessments
Bedrock
China
Coal
Fly ash
Irrigation
paddy rice
Rice
Selenium
Selenium - analysis
Soil Pollutants - analysis
Soils
Xuzhou District
农业土壤
农田土壤
徐州地区
江苏省
燃煤电厂
硒污染
西北地区
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Xuzhou City is an important base for coal production and coal-fired power. To evaluate selenium contamination in this area, we sampled agricultural soil, soil profile, irrigation water, bedrock, coal, fly ash, paddy rice, and vegetables from the north of Xuzhou City, and determined their selenium contents. The background level of selenium in the soil profile was 0.08 mg/kg. The selenium concentrations in agricultural soils and irrigation water were in the range of 0.21-4.08 mg/kg and 0.002-0.29 mg/L, respectively. Soils with high selenium content were located closely to coalmines and power plants. The average selenium concentrations in coal and coal fly ash were 5.46 and 2.81 mg/kg, respectively. In contrast, the concentrations of selenium in bedrock and in the soil profile were very low. These results imply that the high selenium level in agricultural soils is mainly caused by anthropogenic activities, rather than by parent material. The arithmetic mean of selenium concentration in paddy rice was 0.116 mg/kg, and in cabbage was 0.05 mg/kg. The selenium concentration in rice was positively correlated with total selenium concentration in soil, suggesting that selenium in soil is readily transferred into the crops. Furthermore, the estimated dietary intake （88.8 μg） of selenium from paddy rice and cabbage exceeds the recommended dietary allowance （55 μg）. Therefore, there is a potential health risk from consumption of local staple food in the study area.
ISSN:1001-0742
1878-7320
DOI:10.1016/s1001-0742(08)62295-0