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Multivariate Analysis of Heavy Metal Contamination in Urban Dusts of Xi'an, Central China
Multivariate Analysis of Heavy Metal Contamination in Urban Dusts of Xi'an, Central China
www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv
Abstract
Though there are many studies of heavy metal contaminations of urban dusts in developed countries, little attention has been
paid to this kind of study in developing countries, including China. Therefore, a series of investigations were performed to
provide heavy metal signatures of urban dusts and to evaluate potential sources in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. Sixty-five samples
of urban dusts were collected in Xi’an. Then Ag, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn concentrations were determined by using atomic
absorption spectrophotometry, and As, Hg and Sb concentrations by atomic fluorescence spectroscopy. The results indicate that,
in comparison with Chinese soil, urban dusts in Xi’an have elevated metal concentrations as a whole, except those of arsenic
and manganese. These concentration levels are comparable to those in other studies. Correlation coefficient analysis, principal
component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were performed and three main sources with corresponding cluster
elements were identified: (1) Ag and Hg have commercial and domestic sources; (2) Cr, Cu, Pb, Sb and Zn are mainly derived
from industrial sources, combined with traffic sources as well for Pb and Zn; (3) As and Mn come mainly from soil sources, and
As also has an industrial source. Based on PCA and CA analyses, manganese was selected as the reference element, and heavy
metal enrichment factors (Efs) were calculated, which in turn further confirms the source identification. Also, Efs give an
insight of human influence degree of urban dusts.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heavy metals; Principal component analysis; Cluster analysis; Enrichment factor; Xi’an
1. Introduction
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32 31 30 29 28 9 22 21 20 19 18 17
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Railway Be ijing 40
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genized with a polypropylene mortar and sieved discrete distribution of different metal element con-
though a 200 mesh sieve (airborne diameter 66 um). centrations, and to indicate indirectly the activeness of
A small portion of each sample (1 g) was collected the selected element in the examined environment.
and placed in a polypropylene vessel, adding 20 ml Skewness was also utilized to reflect different
mixture of 10:1:10:1 HF, H2SO4, HNO and HClO4. distributions of the metals. In addition, correlation
The solution was heated on an open hot plate for coefficients were calculated to determine relationships
about 4 h until white fumes were given off, and then among different metals.
the residue was redissolved in a plastic bottle with 10
ml HCL (1:1) and was diluted to 50 ml with 2.4. Multivariate analysis
deionized water. Concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr,
Ag and Mn were determined by using a Vario 6 Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster
atomic absorption spectrophotometer (CGL, 1987). analysis (CA) are the most common multivariate
Another small portion of each sample (0.5 g) was statistical methods used in environmental studies
digested with HNO3/H2SO4 and total mercury, (Miranda et al., 1996; Dı́az et al., 2002). For our
arsenic and antimony were analyzed by cold vapor study, SPSS for Windows, version 11.5 (SPSS Inc,
atomic spectrometry (CVAFS), according to CGL USA), was utilized for the multivariate statistical
(1987), similar to Levine and Fernando (2002). Blank analysis, and for descriptive and correlation analyses.
samples, standard samples and duplicated samples PCA is widely used to reduce data (Loska and
were simultaneously performed in the two analyses as Wiechuya, 2003) and to extract a small number of latent
quality control. factors (principal components, PCs) for analyzing
relationships among the observed variables. If large
2.3. Descriptive analysis and correlation coefficient differences exist in the standard deviations of variables,
PCA results will vary considerably depending on
Descriptive data analysis, including mean, standard whether the covariance or correlation matrix is used
deviation (SD), minimum and maximum concentra- (Farnham et al., 2003). The concentrations of the heavy
tions, skewness, variation coefficient etc., was carried metals evaluated in this study vary by different orders
out. Together with SD, variation coefficient (VC), of magnitude. PCA was therefore applied to the
which is SD/mean, was used to reflect the degree of correlation matrix for this study, and each variable is
H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186 179
normalized to unit variance and therefore contributes Reimann and de Caritat, 2000; Bergamaschi et al.,
equally. 2002; Hernandez et al., 2003; Conrad and Chisholm-
To make the results more easily interpretable, the Brause, 2004; Mishra et al., 2004). Therefore, Mn is
PCA with VARIMAX normalized rotation was also expected to be a conservative element and may be
applied, which can maximize the variances of the chosen as the reference element. Previous to calculat-
factor loadings across variables for each factor. Factor ing the EFs, the PCA and CA were performed to
loadings N 0.71 are typically regarded as excellent and ascertain whether Mn is a conservative element.
b 0.32 very poor (Nowak, 1998; Garcı́a et al., 2004). If the analytical results confirm that Mn is a
In this study, all principal factors extracted from the conservative element, the value of the enrichment
variables were retained with eigenvalues N 1.0, as factor was calculated by the modified formula
suggested by the Kaiser criterion (Kaiser, 1960). suggested by Buat-Menard and Chesselet (1979):
When PCA with VARIMAX normalized rotation
was performed, each PC score contains information EF ¼ ½Cn f ðsampleÞ=Cref ðsampleÞ
on all of the metal elements combined into a single =½Bn ðbaselineÞ=Bref ðbaselineÞ
number, while the loadings indicate the relative
contribution each element makes to that score. The where C n (sample) is the concentration of the exam-
PC loadings were plotted and the plot was inspected ined element in urban dusts, C ref (sample) is the
for similarities observed as clusters in the PC loading concentration of the reference element in urban dusts,
plot. B n (baseline)is the content of the examined element in
Cluster analysis (CA) was performed to further China soils (here China background values were
classify elements of different sources on the basis of selected as the baseline), B ref (baseline) is the content
the similarities of their chemical properties. Hierarch- of the reference element in China soils.
ical cluster analysis, used in this study, assisted in EFs can give an insight into differentiating an
identifying relatively homogeneous groups of varia- anthropogenic source from a natural origin. EFs close
bles, using an algorithm that starts with each variable to 1 point to a crustal origin while those greater than
in a separate cluster and combines clusters until only 10 are considered to have a non-crustal source
one is left. As the variables have large differences in (Nolting et al., 1999). Further, EFs can also assist
scaling, standardization was performed before com- the determination of the degree of metal contamina-
puting proximities, which can be done automatically tion. Five contamination categories are recognized on
by the hierarchical cluster analysis procedure. A the basis of the enrichment factor (Sutherland, 2000;
dendrogram was constructed to assess the cohesive- Loska and Wiechuya, 2003) (Table 1):
ness of the clusters formed, in which correlations
among elements can readily be seen. The CA is com-
plementary to PCA. 3. Results and discussion
The enrichment factor (EF) can be utilized to Descriptive statistics of heavy metal concentrations
differentiate between the metals originating from of urban dusts in Xi’an, as well as background values
human activities and those from natural procedure,
and to assess the degree of anthropogenic influence.
One such technique that have often been applied is Table 1
normalization of a tested element against a reference Contamination categories based on EF values
one. Here a question arose about which element can be EFb2 Deficiency to minimal enrichment
chosen as a reference element. A reference element is EF=2–5 Moderate enrichment
often a conservative one, such as the most commonly EF=5–20 Significant enrichment
used elements: Al, Fe, Me, Mn, Sc, Ti etc. (Quevau- EF=20–40 Very high enrichment
viller et al., 1989; Isakson et al., 1997; Lee et al., 1998; EFN40 Extremely high enrichment
180 H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186
Table 2
Heavy metal concentrations of urban dusts in Xi’an (mg/kg)
Element Range Mean Median SD VC Skewness Reference valuea Triggerb
Ag 0.17–7.79 0.84 0.51 1.12 1.33 4.51 0.132 NL
As 5.95–20 10.62 9.78 3.46 0.32 0.94 11.2 10
Cr 28–853 167.28 65.00 195.69 1.17 1.74 61.0 600
Cu 20–1071 94.98 72.40 130.18 1.37 6.86 22.6 130
Hg 0.108–5.212 0.638 0.429 0.723 1.13 4.42 0.065 1
Mn 414–1318 687 700 192 0.27 0.59 583 NL
Pb 29–3060 230.52 131.00 431.02 1.87 5.34 26 500
Sb 0.63–59.85 5.41 3.69 7.37 1.36 6.48 1.21 NL
Zn 80–2112 421.46 295.00 456.03 1.08 3.00 74.2 300
NL—not limited. VC—SD/mean.
a
CNEMC (1990).
b
ICRCL (1983).
of Chinese soils, (CNEMC, 1990) which are concentrations in urban dusts divided by the corre-
considered to be the reference values, and the trigger sponding reference value decrease in the order of
values (ICRCL, 1983) are presented in Table 2. The Hg N Ag N Pb NZn N Sb NCu N Cr, among which even
mean concentrations of Ag, AS, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Pb, the mean concentration of the lowest element, Cr, is
Sb and Zn are 0.84, 10.62, 167.28, 94.98, 0.64, nearly 2.7 times higher than the reference value. In
687.00, 230.52, 5.41 and 421.46 mg/kg, respectively. contrast, Mn and As mean concentrations are
These concentration levels are comparable to those approximately the same as their reference values.
in other studies (Kim et al., 1998; Chatterjee and This suggests that Mn and As may have mainly a
Banerjee, 1999; Charlesworth et al., 2003), espe- natural source, while the other elements may come
cially for Cu, Pb and Zn, whose information is more mainly from human sources.
available. Each heavy metal shows a wide range of Skewness values indicate that only Mn and As
values, except Mn and As. Compared with back- approach a normal distribution, the other metal
ground values of Chinese soils, the heavy metal elements being positively skewed towards the lower
mean concentrations of urban dusts in Xi’an are concentrations, as can also be confirmed by the fact
much higher, except As and Mn, which renders them that the median concentrations of these metals are
distinct from the other elements. Hg mean concen- much lower than their mean concentration. It seems
tration in urban dusts is nearly 100 times higher than that, based on their variation coefficients (VCs), the
the reference value. The values of the mean examined elements can be classified into two groups:
Table 3
Pearson’s correlation matrix for the metal concentrations
Ag As Cr Cu Hg Mn Pb Sb Zn
Ag 0.138 0.027 0.006 0.000 0.638 0.127 0.731 0.128
As 0.186 0.008 0.012 0.305 0.002 0.000 0.933 0.000
Cr 0.247T 0.325TT 0.051 0.050 0.000 0.010 0.121 0.001
Cu 0.336TT 0.309T 0.234 0.968 0.011 0.279 0.974 0.000
Hg 0.679TT 0.129 0.244T 0.005 0.029 0.245 0.368 0.840
Mn 0.059 0.385TT 0.493TT 0.313T 0.272T 0.251 0.856 0.716
Pb 0.191 0.474TT 0.318T 0.136 0.146 0.144 0.899 0.000
Sb 0.044 0.011 0.194 0.004 0.114 0.023 0.016 0.882
Zn 0.191 0.489TT 0.402TT 0.491TT 0.026 0.046 0.501TT 0.019
The left lower part is correlation coefficient; the right upper part is significant level.
T P b0.05 (2-tailed).
TT P b0.01 (2-tailed).
H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186 181
Mn and As, whose VCs are lower than 0.4; and the 3.3.1. Principal component analysis
other metals whose VCs are higher than 1.0. One PCA was applied to assist in the identification of
would expect those elements dominated by a natural sources of pollutants. Table 4 displays the factor
source to have low VCs, while the VCs of elements loadings with a VARIMAX rotation, as well as the
affected by anthropogenic sources to be quite high. eigenvalues. A 3-D plot of the PCA loadings is
This is especially the case for urban dusts, for they presented in Fig. 2, and the relationships among the
have undergone erosion and aeolian transport before nine heavy metals are readily seen. Just as expected,
Ag
1.0 Hg
Cu
0.5 Cr
As Pb Zn
Component 2 Sb
Mn
0.0
-0.5
1.0 1.0
0.5 0.5
0.0 0.0
-0.5 -0.5
Component 1 Component 3
Fig. 2. PCA loading 3-D plot (PC1 vs. PC2 vs. PC3) for 9 heavy metals.
182 H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186
four factors were obtained, accounting for 77.35% of 3.4. Source identification
the total variance. Factor 1 is dominated by As, Cr,
Cu, Pb and Zn, accounting for 27.34% of the total From the descriptive statistical analysis, the skew-
variance. In this case, the Cr and Cu loadings (0.569 ness and variation coefficient (VC) analysis have
and 0.42, respectively) are not as high as the loadings created an impression that Mn and As may have
of the other elements of the group, which may, different sources from other elements. Compared with
therefore, imply a quasi-independent behavior within background values of Chinese soils, Ag, Cr, Cu, Pb,
the group. Factor 2, dominated by Ag and Hg, Sb and Zn have extremely elevated concentrations in
accounts for 20.11% of the total variance. Factor 3 urban dusts of Xi’an, which suggests anthropogenic
is dominated by Mn and Cu, accounting for 17.20% sources of these elements, while As and Mn have
of the total variance. From Fig. 2, Mn and Cu concentrations approximating to their corresponding
separated by a large distance in the 3-D PCA loading background values, indicating a natural origin.
plot, which may suggest that the two elements are PCA and CA analyses are consistent with these
poorly correlated and have different sources. Factor 4 interpretations. The group of As and Mn is remark-
is dominated by Cr, Sb and Zn, accounting for ably different from the other elements in terms of
12.69% of the total variance, while Cr and Zn are Euclidian distances in CA, which implies a different
negatively correlated with Sb. origin from the other elements and gives additional
credence to the previous analysis, though Mn is
3.3.2. Cluster analysis correlated with Cu in PCA analysis. In addition, as
A CA was applied to the standardized bulk was expected, some detailed understanding of source
concentration data using War’s method, with Eucli- identification can be obtained from the PCA and CA
dian distances as the criterion for forming clusters of analyses. A strong correlation between Hg and Ag in
elements. In general, this form of CA is regarded as both analyses is an indicator of the common source or
very efficient, although it tends to create small sources of the two elements. Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn are
clusters. Fig. 3 displays four clusters: (1) Ag–Hg; also correlated in both analyses, suggesting another
(2) Cu–Sb–Pb; (3) Zn–Cr; (4) Mn–As. It is observed, common sources. Sb, although poorly correlated with
however, that clusters 2 and 3 join together at a other elements in PCA analysis, may have a common
relatively higher level implying perhaps a common source with Cu, suggested by its strong correlation
source, while the long distance between As and Mn in with Cu in CA analysis. As is correlated with Cr, Cu,
cluster 4 may suggest that this cluster can be further Pb and Zn in PCA analysis, but separated from all of
divided into two subclusters. the other elements in CA analysis, except Mn, which
Linkage Distance
0 5 10 15 20 25
Ag
Hg
Cu
Sb
Pb
Zn
Cr
Mn
As
Fig. 3. Hierarchical dendogram for 9 elements obtained by War’s hierarchical clustering method (the distances reflect the degree of correlation
between different elements).
H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186 183
indicates perhaps a mixed source (natural and anthro- leaded gasoline (Day et al., 1975; Miguel et al., 1997).
pogenic) of arsenic. For this metal, natural emissions Additionally, traffic activities are also a significant
normally exceed anthropogenic sources. contribution to Zn. According to Jiries et al. (2001),
Based on PCA and CA, three main sources with Zn may be derived from the mechanical abrasion of
corresponding cluster elements can be identified: (1) vehicles, so the local high background value of Zn in
Ag and Hg have commercial and domestic sources; Xi’an may therefore be related, in part, to traffic
(2) Cr, Cu, Pb, Sb and Zn are mainly derived from movements. Zn compounds have been employed
industrial sources, combined with traffic sources as extensively as antioxidants (e.g., zinc carboxylate
well for Pb and Zn; (3) As and Mn come mainly complexes and zinc sulphonates) and as detergent/
from soil sources, and As also has an industrial dispersant improvers for lubricating oils (Miguel et
source. These results will be discussed in detail al., 1997). It has been reported (Ellis and Revitt, 1982)
below. that tire wear contributes significantly to Zn of urban
The first group elements Ag and Hg, which both dusts.
had the highest mean concentrations among the The third group of elements consists of As and Mn.
examined elements in comparison with the reference They are obviously separated from the other elements
elements, comprised the second factor extracted by in CA, and the long distance between them and other
PCA. Ag, widely used for ornaments in people’s daily elements may suggest a mainly non-anthropogenic
life, must come mainly from the erosion of silver source. Skewness shows that As and Mn concen-
ornaments in commercial areas. Mercury is also trations approach normal distributions, with means
present as an unintended contaminant in a wide close to their reference values, which further supports
variety of commercial products such as thermometers, the conclusion that they have mainly natural sources.
blood pressure gauges, solvents, clinical reagents and As is significantly correlated with Cr, Pb and Zn in
laboratory chemicals (US EPA, 1986). And it was PCA, though separated with other element in CA,
reported (ASMA, 2000) that significant amounts of which may suggests a less significant industrial
mercury were consistently found in strictly domestic source. As and Mn are poorly correlated in PCA
wastewater in various parts of the country. and correlation coefficient analysis, suggesting per-
The second group elements consists of Cr–Cu–Pb– haps different soil sources between the two elements.
Sb–Zn. All these elements show high mean concen- Therefore, this cluster perhaps can be divided into two
trations, compared with the reference elements. This subclusters.
group of elements has been identified as those
associated with heavy metal and chemical industry 3.5. Enrichment factor analysis
in many studies (Nasiman, 1996; Mokrzycki et al.,
2003), as is also true of urban dusts in Xi’an. For The analyses mentioned above confirm that Mn is
example, cement-derived fugitive dusts, which come a conservative element in the studied environment.
from the cement plant in the west of Xi’an (sample EFs of different elements, therefore, were calculated,
61), contain high levels of heavy metals, especially Cr and the results display in Fig. 4, which shows the
Cu, Pb and Zn. And these dusts can influence long- distribution of each element’s EF. It is clear from Fig.
range areas because these particles, with their diam- 4 that all the elements, except arsenic, have a mean
eters of less than 100 um, are easily resuspended EFs higher than 3. Arsenic has an EF close to unity,
(Miguel et al., 1999; Han et al., 2003). further confirming its mainly natural source. On the
This group can be further subdivided into two other hand, other elements, with maximum EFs much
subclusters: Pb and Zn are significantly correlated, as higher than 10, were considered to originate mainly
can be shown from their correlation coefficient, and from anthropogenic sources (Liu et al., 2003). It
have a traffic source, coupled with industrial sources; seems, therefore, that EFs can also be an effective tool
while Cr, Cu and Sb may originate mainly from to differentiate a natural origin from anthropogenic
industrial sources. High Pb concentrations in street sources in this study.
dusts have been recognized for a long period as linked The mean EFs decrease in the order of Hg N Pb N
mainly to traffic activities due to the utilization of Ag NZn N Sb NCu N Cr NAs, which can also be seen as
184 H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186
100
10
Extremelier
Outlier
1
Median
0.1
Fig. 4. Boxplot of enrichment factors for metals in the urban dusts of Xi’an city (all of the EFs were log normalized. Then the boxplot basically
divides the normalized EFs into quartiles. The dark line inside the box represents the median; the boxes mark the 25th and 75th percentiles; the
horizontal line outside the box, as is also called whisker, mark the values that extend 1.5 times the width of the box; points outside the whisker
are called outlier; extremelier marks these points which are more than 3 times the width of the box).
the decreasing order of their overall contamination effective tool for source identification of heavy metals
degrees of urban dusts in Xi’an. Ag, Hg, Pb and Zn in Xi’an dusts. Firstly, based on the comparison of
have mean EFs higher than 5, which mean significant heavy metal concentrations of urban dusts and back-
contamination; while Cr, Cu and Sb,, with their mean ground values of Chinese soils, the examined ele-
EFs between 2 and 5, were classified as moderately ments were classified into two main groups according
contaminated. The maximum EFs may reflect the to their sources: natural and anthropogenic. Then,
degree to which local pollution affects each metal. PCA and CA analyses, coupled with correlation
The maximum EFs of Ag, Hg, Pb and Sb are higher analysis, were used to gain additional insight into
than 50, indicating extremely high contamination of the origins of different elements in urban dusts. Three
local dusts. The maximum EF of Zn is 33.96, which main sources for these studied elements, as well as
means very high contamination, while Cu and Cr have some subdivided sources, were thereby identified. Mn
maximum EFs close to 20, indicating significant to and As are attributed to an main origin in soils.
very high contamination. The EF of As was very low Furthermore, As is also associated with a less
and ranged 0.31–2.04, reflecting the lack of contam- significant industrial source. Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr and Sb
ination with arsenic. originate mainly from industrial sources, and Pb and
Zn have traffic sources as well. Hg and Ag are mainly
associated with commercial and domestic sources.
4. Conclusions The EF analysis confirms these results. On the
basis of the EF of each element, the urban dusts were
The application of multivariate statistical techni- classified as significantly contaminated with Hg, Pb,
ques combined with element concentration analysis Ag and Zn, moderately contaminated with Cu, Cr and
and correlation analysis has been proved to be an Sb and not contaminated with As.
H. Yongming et al. / Science of the Total Environment 355 (2006) 176–186 185
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