Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Source apportionment and health risk assessment of chemicals of concern

in soil, water and sediment at a large strontium slag pile area
Da Ding, Lingya Kong, Dengdeng Jiang, Jing Wei, Shaohua Cao, Xuwei Li, Liping Zheng,
Shaopo Deng *
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Management and Pollution Control, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of
Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, 210046, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Strontium (Sr) is an alkaline earth metal that has adverse effects on bone tissue, but received little attention
Chongqing compared to other often-studied metals. This study analyzed the contents/concentrations of Sr, barium (Ba),
Nemerow index sulfate (SO42− ), sulfide (S2− ), and six common metals in 209 multi-media samples, including slag, soil,
Positive matrix factorization
groundwater, surface water, and sediment, collected at a large Sr slag pile area. Sr was the dominant chemical of
Monte Carlo simulation
concern (COC) in the soil and groundwater, with contents/concentrations being 35.50–32200 mg/kg and
0.57–152 mg/L, respectively, much higher than those reported in previous research. Contents/concentrations of
all COCs in the surface water and sediment were relatively low, except Sr content in the sediment near the slag
pile. The LogKd value of Sr was calculated to be lower than those of common metals, indicating relatively high
mobility of Sr in the aquatic environment. Contamination assessment using Nemerow index indicated near half of
the soil and groundwater sampling locations, especially those within and near the slag pile, were heavily
contaminated, and Sr was the dominant COC. The positive matrix factorization model suggested four sources for
the COCs in soil, including Sr slag pile/SrCO3 production, agricultural activities, industrial activities, and natural
sources, with contribution rates of 66.88%, 5.28%, 7.5%, and 20.34%, respectively. Monte Carlo simulation-
based probabilistic health risk assessment revealed that the non-carcinogenic risk of groundwater, and the
carcinogenic risk of soil and groundwater, were unacceptable. Notably, Sr was the unique COC posing non-
carcinogenic risk among the COCs studied. Our results provide the scientific support needed for managing Sr
point source impacted area.

1. Introduction Elevated uptake of Sr is associated with disorders of bone tissue, teeth,

Strontium (Sr) is an alkaline earth metal, an analogue of calcium (Ca)
and barium (Ba). In nature, Sr is found as minerals of celestite (SrSO4)
and strontianite (SrCO3). SrCO3 can also be prepared synthetically from
SrSO4 by direct conversion or black ash method (Zoraga and Kahruman,
2014). SrCO3 is often applied in various industries, such as ceramics,
paint pigments, fluorescent lights, and medicines (Pathak and Gupta,
2020). In geochemical process, Sr behaves similar to Ca due to their
similar chemical properties. Sr is highly mobile in surface water,
groundwater and sediments, and can also migrate to the atmosphere via
rock weathering, migration of dust particles with wind, resuspension
processes, etc. (Pathak and Gupta, 2020).
Humans are exposed to Sr mainly through drinking water and dietary
intake, while air inhalation is insignificant (Pathak and Gupta, 2020).
liver, and brain, especially abnormal bone development in the children
when skeletons are developing (Khandare et al., 2020; Musgrove, 2021;
Pathak and Gupta, 2020). Due to the concerns over the hazards of Sr to
human health, since 2013, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) proposed the Lowest Concentration Minimum
Reporting Level for Sr in drinking water to be 0.3 μg/L (USEPA, 2015).
The USEPA also set Regional Screening Levels (RSLs) for Sr in soil to be
47,000 mg/kg and 420 mg/kg for residential soil and groundwater
protection, respectively (USEPA, 2021). The United States Geological
Survey (USGS) developed a Health-Based Screening Levels of 4 mg/L for
Sr in drinking water (Norman et al., 2018). Canada published a
drinking-water quality guideline of 7 mg/L for Sr, specifically to protect
infants and children (Health Canada, 2019). The Ministry of Ecology and
Environment of the People’s Republic of China (MEE) has listed SrCO3

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dsp@nies.org (S. Deng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114228
Received 27 September 2021; Received in revised form 30 November 2021; Accepted 1 December 2021
Available online 15 December 2021
0301-4797/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Ding et al.
into the high pollution products inventory (Production No.
2601220206) (MEE, 2021), but has not set up screening levels for Sr.
Although the above potential hazards and regulations, Sr receives much
less attention as compared to other more often-studied metals to date.
The environmental occurrence of Sr has been characterized in
several large-scale regions. Sr concentrations were reported to be
0.001–13.6 mg/L in European rivers, and 0.4–1.5 mg/L in US surface
water (Watts and Howe, 2010). El-Sayed and Salem (2015) recorded Sr
concentrations ranging from 0.630 to 1.213 mg/L in surface Nile water
and groundwater in South West Cairo. Sr concentrations were reported
to range from 0.001 to 1.35 mg/L in drinking water in Western Australia
(Hinwood et al., 2015), and 0.06–1.69 mg/L in Xi’an, Northwest China
(Zhang et al., 2018a). Rinklebe et al. (2019) reported the 50th percentile
value was 105.9 mg/kg for soil in Floodplain soils across Central Elbe
River, Germany. However, at present, little is known about the occur­
rence of Sr at a Sr point source impacted area.
The chemicals detected in environment typically originate from
multiple sources (Hu et al., 2020). Multivariate statistical analyses, such
as correlation analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA), are
often used to calculate the relationships among chemicals and group
chemicals with similar sources (Hu et al., 2020). The positive matrix
factorizing (PMF) model recommended by the USEPA is a factor
analysis-based receptor model that can get the non-negative source
contribution of each sample and apportion the source contribution to
each chemical (USEPA, 2014). PMF can be used in combination with CA
and PCA to give reasonable and quantitative information about the
potential sources of chemicals (Dong et al., 2019; Hu et al., 2020; Ran
et al., 2021).
In addition, most existing health risk assessments were based on
deterministic values for the input parameters. However, the variations
of input parameters may either under- or over-estimate the risk level.
Monte Carlo simulation can estimate the exposure and risk values with
cumulative probability via iterating calculations with random param­
eter value. Monte Carlo simulation, followed by sensitivity and uncer­
tainty analysis, can perform a more realistic risk assessment and has
been proved to be one of the most useful approaches for probabilistic
risk assessment (Huang et al., 2021; Mukherjee et al., 2020; USEPA,
2001; Zhang et al., 2018a). In this study, these advanced data analysis
approaches were applied to achieve more accurate results.
The largest Sr deposit in Asia has been found in Chongqing, China,
and several SrCO3 production factories have been built in this city
(Chongqing Geological Survey, 2014). Accordingly, the site of a former
SrCO3 production plant (now a large Sr slag pile area) in Chongqing was
taken as a case to (1) characterize the contents/concentrations of
chemicals of concern (COCs) in the slag, soil, groundwater, surface
water and sediments at the Sr slag pile area; (2) evaluate the contami­
nation level using specific contamination assessment indices; (3) explore
and quantify the source contributions via a combination approach of CA,
PCA, and PMF models; (4) assess the human health risk via a probabi­
listic method. It should be noted that Sr has stable and radioactive iso­
topes, and this study addressed the stable Sr. This work aims to fill the
knowledge gap of occurrence, source and risk of Sr at a Sr point source
impacted area, and to propose management options for policymakers to
make decisions, guidelines and regulations.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study area and field sampling
The study area was a site of a closed SrCO3 production plant (now a
Sr slag pile area) and its surrounding area in Chongqing, China. The
closed plant formerly adopted the black ash method to produce SrCO3,
using SrSO4 as raw material. Firstly, SrSO4 was roasted with coke at
about 1100 ◦ C to form SrS which is then leached in water. Next, the Sr-
containing solution was reacted with CO2 to precipitate SrCO3. The main
process can be expressed as Eqs (1) and (2). According to the production
2
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
process, possible COCs associated with SrCO3 production included Sr,
Ba, sulfate (SO42− ) and sulfide (S2− ) (SrSO4 sometimes contains Ba)
(Alderton, 2021).
SrSO4 + 2C = SrS + 2CO2 (1)
SrS + CO2 + H2 O = SrCO3 + H2 S (2)
The plant closed in 2008, which had been operated for 15 years with
SrCO3 production capacity of about 12,000 t/y. During operation, about
190,000 t Sr slag was stockpiled within the plant area, covering an area
of about 8800 m2. A river was adjacent to the plant area, and the areas
surrounding the plant were mostly farmland, where several small-scale
facilities were located in.
Samples were collected from August to September 2018. The sam­
pling locations were shown in Fig. 1. Briefly, depth-discrete slag (n =
28), depth-discrete soil (n = 153), groundwater (n = 13), surface water
(n = 8), and sediment (n = 7) samples were collected, including paired
soil-groundwater (n = 10) and surface water-sediment (n = 7) samples.
The depth-discrete slag and soil samples were collected from a 10 m drill
core drilled out by a percussion drilling rig. Groundwater monitoring
wells were constructed using a percussion drilling rig. Groundwater
samples were collected by Bailers, after pumping out three times the
volume of water that was in the well. Surface water and sediment
samples were collected by polypropylene bottles and a grab sampler,
respectively. All samplers were rinsed with methanol and ultrapure
water before sampling. QA/QC throughout the sampling campaign fol­
lowed the Guidance for Quality Assurance and Quality Control for In­
vestigations at Key Industries and Enterprises Sites (No. 1869–2017)
(MEE, 2017).
2.2. Chemical analysis
Target analytes included SrCO3 production-related chemicals (Sr, Ba,
SO42− and S2− ) and six metals, including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd),
copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn). All analyses were
conducted at the SEP Analytical Technology (Shanghai) Co, Ltd. which
is certificated by the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical
Supervision.
Contents/concentrations of Sr, Ba, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and Cd were
analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS-
7900, Agilent, USA). As content/concentration was analyzed by atomic
fluorescence spectrometer (AFS-9800, Beijing Haiguang Instrument,
China). SO42− content in soil and sediment was determined following
the titration method of NY/T 1121.18–2006. SO42− concentration in
water was analyzed by ion chromatography (Dionex™ ICS-600, Thermo
Fisher, USA). S2− contents/concentration in water, soil and sediment
was determined following the methylene blue spectrophotometric
method of HJ 833–2017, using an ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (Cary
100, Agilent, USA). Detailed sample pre-treatment procedures and the
method detection limits (MDLs) were provided in Text S1 and Table S1,
respectively, in Supporting Information.
Field blanks, transport blanks, and analytical blanks were conducted
for each sample batch, and the contents/concentrations of target analyte
in the blanks were all below the MDLs. Standard sample recoveries
ranged from 91% to 114%, and the relative standard deviation was less
than 5%.
2.3. Data analysis
2.3.1. Contamination assessment indices
Pollution index (PI) were calculated to evaluate the contamination
level for individual metal using Eq. (3), and Nemerow index (NI) were
calculated to assess overall contamination level for all metals in soil and
water using Eq. (4) (Chen et al., 2019):
D. Ding et al. Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228

Fig. 1. Sampling locations of slag, soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment.

Ci factor contributions matrix gik, factor profiles matrix fkj, and a residual
Pi = (3)
Si matrix eij:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ p
∑
( )2
(Pi(max) )2 + Pi(ave) Xij = gik fkj + eij (6)
NI = (4) k=1
2
where i, j, and k are the numbers of samples, COCs and, sources,
where Ci is the COCs content/concentration (mg/kg or mg/L), Si is the
respectively. Xij is the content of chemical j in sample i (mg/kg); gik is the
limit value set by environmental administrations to protect the envi­
contribution of source k to sample i; fkj is the amount of COC j from
ronment and human health (e.g., screening levels, environmental
source k. Factor contributions and profiles are derived by minimizing
quality standards or drinking water regulations, unit mg/kg or mg/L).
the objective function Q:
The classification criteria of NI were provided in Table S2.
∑n ∑ m ( )2
eij
2.3.2. Surface water-sediment partition coefficient Q= (7)
i=1 j=1
uij
To understand the transport and fate of COCs in the aquatic envi­
ronment, the partitioning behavior of COCs between surface water and where m is the number of COCs studied, n is the number of samples, uij is
sediments were investigated by calculating the solid-water partition the uncertainty of jth COC in ith sample, which is calculated from the
coefficient Kd (L/kg): COC content, MDL, and the measurement uncertainty. If the COCs
Cs contents were greater than MDL, uij was calculated as:
Kd = (5) √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
Cw
Uij = (Errorfraction × concentration)2 + (0.5 × MDL)2 (8)
where Cs and Cw are the COCs content/concentration in sediments (mg/
kg) and surface water (mg/L), respectively. According to the model recommendation, data below the MDL would
be replaced with the value of MDL/2, and the associated uij was calcu­
2.3.3. Statistical analysis lated as:
All statistical analyses were performed in the statistical program 5
SPSS v22.0 (IBM, USA) and R (v 4.1.0) (Houyun Huang et al., 2021). The uij = × MDL (9)
6
contents/concentrations below MDL were replaced by MDL/2 for sta­
The bias and uncertainty of the solution obtained were further
tistical purposes (Feng et al., 2020). Figures were plotted in Origin
assessed using two error estimation methods: classical bootstrap (BS)
(2018). ArcGIS 10.5 was used for map delineation. ArcGIS inverse dis­
and displacement of factor elements (DISP). All calculations follow the
tance weighting interpolation was applied to interpolate the spatial
US EPA PMF 5.0 User Guide (USEPA, 2014).
distribution of NI in the soil and groundwater.

2.5. Probabilistic health risk assessment

2.4. PMF model
The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks for the COCs in
In this study, PMF was applied for quantitative source apportion­ soil and groundwater were estimated according to the USEPA health risk
ment. PMF decomposes the matrix of observed content of COCs Xij into assessment model (USEPA, 2001), including exposure assessment and

3
D. Ding et al.
risk assessment. The population was grouped into children and adults
due to their physiological and behavioral differences. Soil exposure
pathways were considered to include ingestion, dermal contact, and
inhalation. Groundwater exposure pathways were considered to include
ingestion and dermal contact.
The non-carcinogenic risk was characterized as hazard quotient (HQ)
and hazard index (HI). The carcinogenic risk (CR) was characterized as
CR and total carcinogenic risk (TCR). If HQ or HI is greater than 1, there
are potential non-carcinogenic risks. If CR or TCR exceeds 1E-4, it in­
dicates humans suffer from cancer risks, whereas CR or TCR below 1E-6
is generally considered to pose negligible carcinogenic risks (Huang
et al., 2021; USEPA, 2001; Xu et al., 2018). Equations of exposure and
risk assessment were provided in Text S2. The exposure and toxicity
parameters were provided in Table S3-S5.
Crystal Ball 11.1.24 (Oracle, USA) was used to perform the Monte
Carlo simulations for probabilistic human health risk assessment, using
2D simulation tools with 10,000 trials. The statistical distributions of the
COCs contents/concentrations were determined under Kolmogorov-
Fig. 2. Box plots of COCs contents/concentrations in (a) slag leachate, (b) soil, (c) groundwater, (d) surface water, (e) sediment. The over-limit rates of COCs were
presented with blue font. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
4
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
Smirnov Test, which was required to perform the Monte Carlo simula­
tions (Table S6).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Contents/concentrations of COCs in slag leachate, soil, and
groundwater
Fig. 2 displayed the box plots of the contents/concentrations of COCs
detected in slag leachate, soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment.
Table S7 provided the summary statistics, including detection frequency,
minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation
(CV), median, limit value, and over-limit rate. The mean contents/concen­
trations and over-limit rates of four SrCO3 production-related COCs (i.e., Sr,
Ba, SO42− , and S2− ) generally exceed other COCs in all media (Fig. 2,
Table S7). Moreover, the concentrations of all detected Sr in the slag leachate
samples exceed the limit value of groundwater. These results exhibited the
impacts from the Sr slag pile on the COCs detected in this area.
D. Ding et al.
Sr had the highest mean content among all COCs in the soil, and
showed high spatial variation (CV = 187.67%) which was due to the
high Sr contents detected in some soil samples. Ba had high over-limit
rate (55.56%) but relatively low mean content and CV (55.42%), indi­
cating its relatively uniform spatial distribution. Fig. S1 showed vertical
distribution of the contents of Sr, Ba, SO42− and S2− in the depth-discrete
soil samples, and high contents were mainly detected between 0.5 m and
6 m, suggesting their vertical transport capacities were limited. The
highest Sr contents (32,200 mg/kg) occurred in the soil sample S19-5 m,
which was also loaded by the highest Ba content (615 mg/kg). Addi­
tionally, high Sr content was detected in the corresponding groundwater
sample GW13 and the nearby sediment samples of SW3 and SW4. S19/
GW13 was about 30 m northwest to the Sr slag pile and about 30 m
southeast to the river. These findings implied a potential Sr transport
pathway: Sr transport northwest from the slag pile toward the river. Sr
contents in the soil of this study were higher than those reported in
previous research, such as some mine and tailing sites, the Chinese
background value for urban soil, and the worldwide average value
(Table S8) (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang et al., 2021; Kabata-Pendias, 2011;
Ran et al., 2021). The contents of Sr and Ba in about half of the soil
samples exceeded the USEPA RSL values for groundwater protection,
but not exceeded the values for residential soil. This implied that Sr and
Ba in the soil may pose risks to groundwater while not to human health.
In the groundwater, the mean concentrations of Sr and SO42− were
two to three orders of magnitudes higher than those of other COCs, and
76.92% and 38.46% of Sr and SO42− exceeded their limit values,
respectively. The highest Sr concentrations (152 mg/L) occurred at
GW2, which was located within the Sr slag pile. The second high Sr
concentration (61.1 mg/L) occurred at GW13, which was corresponding
to the soil sample S19-5 m having the highest Sr concentration. Sr
concentrations in the groundwater in this area were much higher than
those reported in previous research, such as a semi-arid region of east
India, the drinking water in Xi’an, China, and the drinking water and
groundwater in the United States (Table S8) (Gerke et al., 2013; Mus­
grove, 2021; Zhang et al., 2018a). Overall, Sr had relatively high con­
tents/concentrations and over-limit rates in both soil and groundwater.
Further investigations and actions should be taken in this area and other
sites regarding manufacturing of Sr compounds. In addition, there is a
call for updating and extending the current Chinese limit values for Sr
and other less-studied chemicals.
3.2. Surface water-sediment partition
All COCs in the surface water samples were detected at relatively low
concentrations, distributed evenly (CV < 40%), and did not exceed any
limit value. Sr concentrations in the surface water of this study
(0.26–0.32 mg/L, mean 0.29 mg/L) were close to or lower than those
reported in other studies, such as US surface water, European rivers, and
surface water in South West Cairo (Table S8) (El-Sayed and Salem, 2015;
Watts and Howe, 2010).
The COCs contents in the sediment were also relatively low, except
the Sr contents in the sediment close to the slag pile. Sr contents in the
sediment samples SW3 and SW4 were 820 mg/kg and 1250 mg/kg,
respectively, higher than those of other samples and those listed in other
studies. Maurya and Kumari (2021) reported the maximum Sr content
was 996.25 mg/kg in the sediment of Gulf of Kachchh, India. Wang et al.
(2016) found the Sr content was 42.5–768 mg/kg (mean 318 mg/kg) in
the sediments of Chaohu Lake, China.
Sediment can act as a sink to adsorb and store Sr. LogKd values were
calculated to quantify the affinity of COCs for the particulate phase,
using the contents/concentrations in the paired surface water and
sediment samples. High LogKd values indicate that the COC is prefer­
entially retained by the sediment, conversely low values suggest that the
COC mostly remains in water where it is available for transport and
geochemical or biological reactions (Anderson and Christensen, 1988;
Ashayeri and Keshavarzi, 2019). Compared to the median LogKd values
5
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
of other metals from a review of 245 literature conducted by Allison and
Allison (2005), the LogKd value of Sr was lower than those of common
metals (Table 1), which indicated Sr had higher aquatic mobility than
other metals (Allison and Allison, 2005; Ashayeri and Keshavarzi,
2019). Sr has been characterized by moderate mobility in soils and
sediments via adsorbing on components of soils and sediments such as
iron oxides, clay minerals, and organic matter (Pathak and Gupta,
2020). In summary, the COCs contents/concentrations in the surface
water and sediment were relatively low, except for the sediment near the
slag pile.
3.3. Contamination assessment
Based on the above results, the contents/concentrations and over-
limit rates of COCs were relatively high in the soil and groundwater,
while those were low in the surface water. The NI and PI values are
typically used to assess metal contamination, hence they were calculated
to evaluate the contamination level of the metals in soil and water in this
area (Kowalska et al., 2018). Since depth-discrete soil samples were
collected (more than one soil sample at a sampling location), NI was
calculated for each soil sample and the maximum NI at each soil sam­
pling location was reported to represent the worst scenario (Riviere
et al., 2019). According to the NI values of soil, 47.37% of soil sampling
locations were classified as heavy contamination (NI > 3), and the areas
within and close to the slag pile got even higher PLI scores (Fig. 3a). In
terms of individual COC, the median PI sequence for the COCs in soil was
Ba > Sr > As > Ni > Cd > Pb > Cu (Fig. S2). The median PI value for Ba
exceeded 1, corresponding to the over-limit rate of 55.56% for Ba in the
soil. Sr got the highest 75th percentile and maximum PI values (max
76.67), exhibiting dramatic Sr contamination at certain sampling
locations.
Similar to the soil, 46.15% of groundwater samples were classified as
heavy contamination (NI > 3), and the areas within and close to the slag
pile got higher PLI scores (Fig. 3b). In terms of individual COC, the
median PI sequence for COCs in groundwater was Sr > Cd > Ba > As >
Pb > Cu > Zn. The median PI value for Sr exceeded 1, corresponding to
the over-limit rate of 76.92% for Sr in the groundwater. Other than Sr
and Ba, the maximum PI for As exceed 1 in both soil and groundwater,
and the over-limit rates for As in soil and groundwater were 5.88% and
7.69%, respectively, which may result from the historical application of
As-containing fertilizers and pesticides (Gong et al., 2020; Hu et al.,
2020). The maximum NI and PI for surface water were 0.15 and 0.21,
respectively, classified as safe. Overall, near half of the soil and
groundwater sampling locations, especially those within and near the Sr
slag pile, were assessed to be heavily contaminated, which was sug­
gested to be priority areas for environmental management. Sr was the
dominant COC in both soil and groundwater in this area and deserved
closer attention.
Table 1
Median value of LogKd of COCs derived from
this study and other literature.
COCs LogKd (L/kg)
Pb 5.1
Ni 4.0
Sb 4.0
Zn 3.7
Se 3.6
Ba 3.4
As 2.5
Mo 2.5
Sr 2.4
SO42- 0.3
Note: Sr, Ba, and SO42− were from this study,
while other metals were from (Allison and
Allison, 2005).
D. Ding et al.
Fig. 3. Distribution of Nemerow index of (a) soil and (b) groundwater.
3.4. Sources apportionment
Due to the soil and groundwater contamination, potential sources for
the COCs in soil and groundwater were explored and quantified. Firstly,
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s
test of sphericity in PCA were conducted to test the suitability of the
content/concentration data for factor analysis. KMO index >0.5 and
Bartlett’s test being significant (p < 0.5) is considered to be suitable for
factor analysis (Williams et al., 2010). For soil, KMO was 0.621 (>0.5)
and Bartlett’s test was significant (p < 0.01), implying a stable and
reliable solution. KMO was 0.326 (<0.5) for groundwater, indicating it
was not suitable for factor analysis. Therefore, source apportionment of
COCs in groundwater was not further analyzed. Then Pearson correla­
tion analysis was performed to initially explore the relationships be­
tween the COCs studied. Significant positive correlations and relatively
high coefficients were found in the group of Sr, Ba, SO42− and S2− , and
the group of Cu and Ni (p < 0.01, r2 > 0.4), indicating the group COCs
may have common sources (Table S9) (Ghaffari et al., 2021).
In practice, PCA is often used to select the optimal number of factors
before PMF analysis (Dong et al., 2019; Gelfand et al., 2017; Hu et al.,
6
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
2020). PCA extracted four factors with eigenvalue >1, explaining
78.39% of the total variance. Accordingly, the factor number was set to
four in the PMF model, with over 93% prediction residuals normally
distributed between − 3.0 and 3.0. The linear fit equation of the pre­
dicted and measured COCs contents was y = 1.04x-174.25, R2 = 0.99. BS
and DISP models were performed to further estimate the uncertainties in
the modeled solution. A total of 100 bootstrap runs were performed, and
approximately 90% of the base factors were reproduced in the BS model
(R2 > 0.6) (Table S10), and no factor swaps were observed in the DISP
model. The above results indicated that the four-factor PMF solution was
stable (Fei et al., 2020). The factor profiles of PCA and PMF were shown
in Table S11. Fig. 4a and b displayed the factor fingerprints and con­
tributions of individual factors to the COCs. To further verify the PMF
results, the factor contributions from PMF model were correlated with
the Pearson correlation coefficients of COCs (Fig. 4c).
Factor 1 from PCA and PMF included Sr, Ba, SO42− and S2− , which
were associated with the Sr slag pile and historical SrCO3 production
processes. Hence, Factor 1 was designated as Sr slag pile/SrCO3 pro­
duction, with a contribution rate of 66.88% to the COCs detected in the
soil. As mentioned earlier, the concentrations of detected Sr in the slag
D. Ding et al.
Fig. 4. (a) PMF factor fingerprints of COCs, (b) PMF contributions of individual factor to COCs, (c) PMF factor contributions and Pearson correlation analysis.
leachate samples exceeded the limit value of groundwater. These results
imply that removing the Sr slag can prevent and control further soil and
groundwater contamination. Other researchers also found point sources
had large contributions to the chemicals detected in the surrounding
environment. A municipal solid waste incinerator was reported to have a
contribution of 36.08% for heavy metals in the surrounding soil (Ma
et al., 2018). Cheng et al. (2020) applied PMF and identified five sources
for heavy metals in the soil near large, open-pit coal mines. Four of the
sources were related to mining activities, having a total contribution
rate of 62.8%.
Factor 2 from PCA was mainly related to Cu, Ni and Cd, while PMF
included high loadings of Pb and moderate loadings of Cu, Ni and Cd. Pb
typically originated from vehicular emissions and industrial discharges,
such as mining and smelting, coal burning, and waste incineration. Cu,
Ni and Cd were considered to be closely linked to the industrial zones
(Dong et al., 2019; Huang et al., 2021; Shen et al., 2017). Therefore,
Factor 2 was chosen to represent industrial activities, with a contribu­
tion rate of 7.5%.
Factor 3 from PCA mainly included Ba, Cd, and As, while PMF was
weighted primarily on As and moderately on Ba, Cd, Cu and Ni. Agri­
cultural application of fertilizer, pesticides, feed additives, and sewage
irrigation generally provides considerable amounts of As, Cd, Cu and Ni
(Dong et al., 2019; Fei et al., 2020; Hu et al., 2020). It has been reported
As, Cu, Ni and Cd were the common metals accumulated in Chinese
farmland (Gong et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2015). Phosphate fertilizers
were found to have high contents of Ba (Ahlgren et al., 2012). Thus,
Factor 3 may be associated with agricultural activities, with a contri­
bution rate of 5.28%.
Factor 4 from PCA was mainly Pb, while that from PMF was mainly
SO42− . High levels of SO42− mostly from natural sources, such as sulfate
7
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
minerals, oxidation of sulfide minerals, and rainfall (Torres-Martinez
et al., 2020). Factor 4 from PMF model was selected to be natural
sources, with a contribution rate of 20.34%. Overall, four sources
contributed to the COCs detected in the soil, with Sr slag pile/SrCO3
production being the primary source. Zhang et al. (2018b) also reported
that the metal contents in an abandoned lead-acid battery plant zone
were affected by various industrial and agricultural factors. PCA and
PMF generated similar results, while with minor differences. The
inter-model differences have been reported in previous research, which
can be caused by the different theoretical procedures employed by the
two models (Huang et al., 2018; Salim et al., 2019; Sofowote et al., 2008;
Zhang et al., 2020).
3.5. Probabilistic health risk assessment
3.5.1. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks
Near half of the soil and groundwater sampling locations were
evaluated to be heavily contaminated and thus may pose risks to human
health. The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of children and
adults exposed to the COCs in soil and groundwater through different
pathways were assessed using Monte Carlo simulation. The probability
distribution for HI and TCR was shown in Fig. 5. Summary statistics of
risk levels were provided in Table S12. According to the probability
distribution curves, children had higher probabilities than adults for HI
> 1 or TCR > 1E-4, thus ought to be paid more attention. The HQ and CR
for individual COCs with different exposure pathways were presented in
Fig. S3. Oral ingestion was the predominant exposure pathway for most
COCs, and dermal contact was dominant for Cd (due to its high ratio of
RfDo/RfDd of 100). At the same time, inhalation was insignificant for all
COCs. Accordingly, the residents should avoid ingesting and contacting
D. Ding et al.
Fig. 5. Probability distribution for hazard index (HI) of (a) soil and (b) groundwater, and for total carcinogenic risk (TCR) of (c) soil and (d) groundwater. The red
area represents HI > 1 or TCR > 1E-4. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
the local soil and groundwater to minimize health risks.
For non-carcinogenic risks, the mean and 95th percentile HI values
of the COCs in soil for children and adults were both below 1, indicating
the COCs in soil barely pose non-carcinogenic risks to human health.
However, the 95th percentile HI values of the COCs in groundwater for
children and adults both exceed 1, implying the COCs in groundwater
posed non-carcinogenic risks to human health. In terms of individual
COC in groundwater (Fig. S3a, b), only the HQ value of Sr exceeded one.
It was much higher than those of other COCs, indicating Sr was the
unique COC in groundwater, posing a non-carcinogenic risk. Abnormal
bone development may occur for children if the groundwater is used as a
drinking source. These results were consistent with the USEPA RSL
values. Sr contents in soil did not exceed the RSL value for residential
soil but exceeded groundwater protection.
For carcinogenic risks, the mean and 95th percentile TCR values of
the COCs in soil and groundwater for children and adults both exceed
1E-6, and most TCR values surpass 1E-4, suggesting the COCs in soil and
groundwater posed carcinogenic risks to human health. For individual
COCs in soil, CR of As, Cd and Ni in soil and Cd in groundwater for
children exceed 1E-4 (Fig. S3c, d). High carcinogenic risks induced by
these carcinogenic metals were also found in the park soil of Shanghai,
China, and the groundwater of eastern China coastal zone (Huang et al.,
2021; Wang et al., 2021). In summary, Sr was assessed as the unique
COC posing a non-carcinogenic risk, and As, Cd and Ni posed carcino­
genic risks to human health, which need further responses.
3.5.2. Sensitivity analysis and uncertainty analysis
Sensitivity analysis was carried out to recognize the most influential
variables contributing to the output risk values. The dominant variables
were generally consistent for all output results, including exposure
8
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
duration, adherent factor, soil/groundwater ingestion rate, and COCs
contents/concentrations (e.g., Sr, As, Cd and Ni) (Fig. S4). The sensi­
tivity analysis results revealed that a better definition of these parame­
ters could result in a more accurate risk assessment.
Although Monte Carlo simulation was employed to quantify the
uncertainties of the health risk assessment, certain uncertainties
remained in this study. The input parameters of ingestion rate, skin area,
and body weight were obtained from Chinese statistical data. However,
some other parameters were the recommended values from USEPA (e.g.,
exposure duration and exposure time), which were not specific to the
Chinese population. Moreover, the exposure pathway of groundwater
inhalation was not considered in this study due to the unavailability of
toxicological data. Therefore, a more accurate assessment can be further
carried out by considering these additional factors.
3.6. Management options
To better prevent and control contamination and risk, several man­
agement options were proposed. Firstly, to remediate the contaminated
soil and groundwater and prevent further environmental deterioration,
slag/soil excavation and off-site treatment combining groundwater
pump and treat are feasible short-term removal actions under high time
constraints. The excavated slag and soil can be sent to a cement kiln,
which solidifies metals into cement products (Wang and Tang, 2018).
The pumped groundwater can be treated via adsorption, chemical pre­
cipitation, ion exchange, membrane technology, solvent extraction, etc.
(Liu et al., 2017). If long-term responses are allowed, phytoremediation
would be an economical and environmentally friendly strategy for the
contaminated soil and groundwater (Pathak and Gupta, 2020).
Then, more attention should be paid to less-examined chemicals. In
D. Ding et al.
this area, Sr was found to have relatively high concentrations, over-limit
rates, and risks. It is suggested to investigate the status quo of global Sr
mineral deposits and active/closed Sr compounds manufacturing plants.
In addition, the toxic-response factor of Sr is unavailable, thus limiting
its ecological risk analysis, and the Chinese screening level of Sr is
lacking. It is necessary to develop more toxicological parameters and
environmental quality standards for Sr. Rinklebe et al. (2019) found a
less-expected element vanadium had a significant risk contribution to
the soils along the Central Elbe River, Germany. Further investigations
and regulations should be extended to cover more less-studied
chemicals.
4. Conclusion
This work comprehensively investigated the multi-media occur­
rence, contamination, sources, and health risks of COCs at a Sr slag pile
area. Sr contents/concentrations in soil and groundwater were much
higher than previously reported values. Contents/Concentrations of all
COCs in surface water and sediment were low, except Sr content in the
sediment near the slag pile, which could result from a long-term parti­
tion of Sr from the nearby slag pile to the river and then the sediment. Sr
was characterized to have relatively high mobility due to its relatively
high sediment-surface water LogKd value. Contamination assessment
indicated soil and groundwater contamination in this area, especially
the area within and near the slag, and Sr was the dominant COC in both
soil and groundwater. PMF revealed that Sr slag pile/SrCO3 production
was the major source of the COCs detected in this area, contributing
mostly to Sr, Ba, SO42− and S2− . Monte Carlo simulation-based proba­
bilistic health risk assessment showed that the non-carcinogenic risk of
groundwater, and the carcinogenic risk of soil and groundwater, were
unacceptable. Sr was the unique COC posing a non-carcinogenic risk. To
better prevent and control contamination and risk in this area, slag/soil
excavation and off-site treatment, groundwater pump and treat, and
phytoremediation were proposed as viable remediation strategies. This
study suggests that further investigations and regulations should be
extended to cover more less-studied chemicals.
Author statement
Da Ding: Conceptualization, Investigation, Visualization, Writing –
original draft, Writing – review & editing. Lingya Kong: Methodology,
Investigation. Dengdeng Jiang: Methodology, Investigation. Jing Wei:
Writing – review & editing. Shaohua Cao: Investigation. Xuwei Li:
Investigation.Liping Zheng: Investigation. Shaopo Deng: Resources,
Supervision, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Devel­
opment Program of China (2018YFC1801100) and the Jiangsu Innova­
tion & Entrepreneurship Ph.D. Program (JSSCBS20211319).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114228.
9
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
References
Ahlgren, J., Djodjic, F., Wallin, M., 2012. Barium as a potential indicator of phosphorus
in agricultural runoff. J. Environ. Qual. 41, 208–216. https://doi.org/10.2134/
jeq2011.0220.
Alderton, D., 2021. In: Alderton, D., Elias, S.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Geology, second
ed. Academic Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 413–421.
Allison, J.D., Allison, T.L., 2005. Partition Coefficients for Metals in Surface Water, Soil,
and Waste. EPA/600/R-05/074. USEPA, Washington DC, USA.
Anderson, P.R., Christensen, T.H., 1988. Distribution coefficients of Cd, Co, Ni, and Zn in
soils. J. Soil Sci. 39, 15–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.1988.tb01190.x.
Ashayeri, N.Y., Keshavarzi, B., 2019. Geochemical characteristics, partitioning,
quantitative source apportionment, and ecological and health risk of heavy metals in
sediments and water: a case study in Shadegan Wetland, Iran. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 149,
110495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110495.
Chen, R., Chen, H., Song, L., Yao, Z., Meng, F., Teng, Y., 2019. Characterization and
source apportionment of heavy metals in the sediments of Lake Tai (China) and its
surrounding soils. Sci. Total Environ. 694, 133819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scitotenv.2019.133819.
Cheng, H., Li, K., Li, M., Yang, K., Liu, F., Cheng, X., 2014. Geochemical background and
baseline value of chemical elements in urban soil in China. Earth Sci. Front. 21,
265–306. https://doi.org/10.13745/j.esf.2014.03.028.
Cheng, W., Lei, S., Bian, Z., Zhao, Y., Li, Y., Gan, Y., 2020. Geographic distribution of
heavy metals and identification of their sources in soils near large, open-pit coal
mines using positive matrix factorization. J. Hazard Mater. 387, 121666. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121666.
Dong, B., Zhang, R., Gan, Y., Cai, L., Freidenreich, A., Wang, K., Guo, T., Wang, H., 2019.
Multiple methods for the identification of heavy metal sources in cropland soils from
a resource-based region. Sci. Total Environ. 651, 3127–3138. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.130.
El-Sayed, M., Salem, W.M., 2015. Hydrochemical assessments of surface Nile water and
ground water in an industry area – South West Cairo. Egypt. J. Petrol. 24, 277–288.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.07.014.
Fei, X., Lou, Z., Xiao, R., Ren, Z., Lv, X., 2020. Contamination assessment and source
apportionment of heavy metals in agricultural soil through the synthesis of PMF and
GeogDetector models. Sci. Total Environ. 747, 141293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scitotenv.2020.141293.
Feng, X.M., Ye, M.Q., Li, Y., Zhou, J., Sun, B.B., Zhu, Y.M., Zhu, L.Y., 2020. Potential
sources and sediment-pore water partitioning behaviors of emerging per/
polyfluoroalkyl substances in the South Yellow Sea. J. Hazard Mater. 389, 12.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122124.
Gelfand, A.E., Fuentes, M., Hoeting, J.A., Smith, R.L., 2017. Handbook of Environmental
and Ecological Statistics. CRC Press, Baca Raton, USA.
Gerke, T.L., Little, B.J., Luxton, T.P., Scheckel, K.G., Maynard, J.B., 2013. Strontium
concentrations in corrosion products from residential drinking water distribution
systems. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 5171–5177. https://doi.org/10.1021/
es4000609.
Ghaffari, H.R., Kamari, Z., Ranaei, V., Pilevar, Z., Akbari, M., Moridi, M., Khedher, K.M.,
Thai, V.N., Fakhri, Y., Khaneghah, A.M., 2021. The concentration of potentially
hazardous elements (PHEs) in drinking water and non-carcinogenic risk assessment:
a case study in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Environ. Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
envres.2021.111567, 111567-111567.
Gong, Y., Qu, Y., Yang, S., Tao, S., Shi, T., Liu, Q., Chen, Y., Wu, Y., Ma, J., 2020. Status
of arsenic accumulation in agricultural soils across China (1985-2016). Environ. Res.
186, 109525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109525.
Health Canada, 2019. Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality - Summary Table.
Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/ser
vices/environmental-workplace-health/reports-publications/water-quality/guideli
nes-canadian-drinking-water-quality-summary-table.html. (Accessed 25 September
2021).
Hinwood, A.L., Stasinska, A., Callan, A.C., Heyworth, J., Ramalingam, M., Boyce, M.,
McCafferty, P., Odland, J.Ø., 2015. Maternal exposure to alkali, alkali earth,
transition and other metals: concentrations and predictors of exposure. Environ.
Pollut. 204, 256–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.04.024.
Huang, Houyun, Zhou, Lei, Chen, Jian, Wei, T., 2021a. Ggcor: Extended Tools for
Correlation Analysis and Visualization. R package version 0.9.4.3. https://github.co
m/houyunhuang/ggcor.
Hu, Y., He, K., Sun, Z., Chen, G., Cheng, H., 2020. Quantitative source apportionment of
heavy metal(loid)s in the agricultural soils of an industrializing region and
associated model uncertainty. J. Hazard Mater. 391, 122244. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122244.
Huang, J., Wu, Y., Sun, J., Li, X., Geng, X., Zhao, M., Sun, T., Fan, Z., 2021b. Health risk
assessment of heavy metal(loid)s in park soils of the largest megacity in China by
using Monte Carlo simulation coupled with Positive matrix factorization model.
J. Hazard Mater. 415, 125629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125629.
Huang, Y., Deng, M., Wu, S., Japenga, J., Li, T., Yang, X., He, Z., 2018. A modified
receptor model for source apportionment of heavy metal pollution in soil. J. Hazard
Mater. 354, 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.05.006.
Jiang, L., Sun, H., Peng, T., Ding, W., Liu, B., Liu, Q., 2021. Comprehensive evaluation of
environmental availability, pollution level and leaching heavy metals behavior in
non-ferrous metal tailings. J. Environ. Manag. 290 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jenvman.2021.112639.
Kabata-Pendias, A., 2011. Trace Elements in Soils and Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton,
USA.
Khandare, A.L., Validandi, V., Rajendran, A., Singh, T.G., Thingnganing, L., Kurella, S.,
Nagaraju, R., Dheeravath, S., Vaddi, N., Kommu, S., Maddela, Y., 2020. Health risk
D. Ding et al.
assessment of heavy metals and strontium in groundwater used for drinking and
cooking in 58 villages of Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Environ.
Geochem. Health 42, 3675–3701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-020-00596-1.
Kowalska, J.B., Mazurek, R., Gąsiorek, M., Zaleski, T., 2018. Pollution indices as useful
tools for the comprehensive evaluation of the degree of soil contamination–A review.
Environ. Geochem. Health 40, 2395–2420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-
0106-z.
Liu, H., Pourret, O., Guo, H., Bonhoure, J., 2017. Rare earth elements sorption to iron
oxyhydroxide: model development and application to groundwater. Appl. Geochem.
87, 158–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.10.020.
Ma, W., Tai, L., Qiao, Z., Zhong, L., Wang, Z., Fu, K., Chen, G., 2018. Contamination
source apportionment and health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil around
municipal solid waste incinerator: a case study in North China. Sci. Total Environ.
631–632, 348–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.011.
Maurya, P., Kumari, R., 2021. Toxic metals distribution, seasonal variations and
environmental risk assessment in surficial sediment and mangrove plants (A.
marina), Gulf of Kachchh (India). J. Hazard Mater. 413 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jhazmat.2021.125345.
Mee, 2017. Guidance for Quality Assurance and Quality Control for Investigations at Key
Industries and Enterprises Sites. Ministry of Ecological Environment, Beijing, China,
25 September 2021. https://www.mee.gov.cn/gkml/hbb/bgth/201712/t20171214
_427935.htm.
Mee, 2021. Comprehensive Inventories for Environmental Protection. Ministry of
Ecological Environment, Beijing, China, 25 September 2021. https://www.mee.gov.
cn/xxgk2018/xxgk/xxgk06/202111/t20211102_958837.html.
Mukherjee, I., Singh, U.K., Singh, R.P., Anshumali Kumari, D., Jha, P.K., Mehta, P., 2020.
Characterization of heavy metal pollution in an anthropogenically and geologically
influenced semi-arid region of east India and assessment of ecological and human
health risks. Sci. Total Environ. 705 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scitotenv.2019.135801.
Musgrove, M., 2021. The occurrence and distribution of strontium in US groundwater.
Appl. Geochem. 126, 104867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2020.104867.
Norman, J.E., Toccalino, P.L., Morman, S.A., 2018. Health-Based Screening Levels for
Evaluating Water-Quality Data, 2d ed. US Geological Survey https://water.usgs.
gov/water-resources/hbsl/. (Accessed 25 September 2021).
Pathak, P., Gupta, D.K., 2020. Strontium Contamination in the Environment. Springer,
Switzerland.
Ran, H., Guo, Z., Yi, L., Xiao, X., Zhang, L., Hu, Z., Li, C., Zhang, Y., 2021. Pollution
characteristics and source identification of soil metal(loid)s at an abandoned arsenic-
containing mine, China. J. Hazard Mater. 413 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jhazmat.2021.125382.
Rinklebe, J., Antoniadis, V., Shaheen, S.M., Rosche, O., Altermann, M., 2019. Health risk
assessment of potentially toxic elements in soils along the Central Elbe River,
Germany. Environ. Int. 126, 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.02.011.
Riviere, G., Jean, J., Gorecki, S., Hulin, M., Kolf-Clauw, M., Feidt, C., Picard-Hagen, N.,
Vasseur, P., Le Bizec, B., Sirot, V., 2019. Dietary exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids,
brominated flame retardants and health risk assessment in the French infant total
diet study. Food Chem. Toxicol. 131 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2019.06.008.
Salim, I., Sajjad, R.U., Paule-Mercado, M.C., Memon, S.A., Lee, B.Y., Sukhbaatar, C.,
Lee, C.H., 2019. Comparison of two receptor models PCA-MLR and PMF for source
identification and apportionment of pollution carried by runoff from catchment and
sub-watershed areas with mixed land cover in South Korea. Sci. Total Environ. 663,
764–775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.377.
Shen, F., Liao, R., Ali, A., Mahar, A., Guo, D., Li, R., Xining, S., Awasthi, M.K., Wang, Q.,
Zhang, Z., 2017. Spatial distribution and risk assessment of heavy metals in soil near
a Pb/Zn smelter in Feng County, China. Ecotox. Environ. Safe. 139, 254–262.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.01.044.
10
Journal of Environmental Management 304 (2022) 114228
Sofowote, U.M., McCarry, B.E., Marvin, C.H., 2008. Source apportionment of PAH in
Hamilton Harbour suspended sediments: comparison of two factor analysis methods.
Environ. Sci. Technol. 42, 6007–6014. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800219z.
Survey, C.G., 2014. The largest strontium deposit was recently found in Chongqing.
Huabei Nat. Res. 1, 33. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-7487.2014.01.041.
Torres-Martinez, J.A., Mora, A., Knappett, P.S.K., Ornelas-Soto, N., Mahlknecht, J., 2020.
Tracking nitrate and sulfate sources in groundwater of an urbanized valley using a
multi-tracer approach combined with a Bayesian isotope mixing model. Water Res.
182, 115962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.115962.
USEPA, 2001. Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund: Volume III - Part A, Process for
Conducting Probabilistic Risk Assessment. EPA 540-R-02-002. USEPA, Washington
DC, USA.
USEPA, 2014. EPA Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) 5.0 Fundamentals and User
Guide. EPA/600/R-14/108. Washington DC, USA.
USEPA, 2015. The Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 3): Data
Summary. EPA 815-S-17-001. USEPA, Washington DC, USA.
USEPA, 2021. Regional Screening Level (RSL) Summary Table. USEPA, Washington DC,
USA. https://www.epa.gov/risk/regional-screening-levels-rsls-generic-tables.
(Accessed 25 September 2021).
Wang, J.-Z., Peng, S.-C., Chen, T.-H., Zhang, L., 2016. Occurrence, source identification
and ecological risk evaluation of metal elements in surface sediment: toward a
comprehensive understanding of heavy metal pollution in Chaohu Lake, Eastern
China. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 23, 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-
5246-4.
Wang, T., Tang, B., 2018. Utilization of pulverized strontium slag as the admixture of
Portland cement. J. Therm. Anal. Calorim. 132, 285–291. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s10973-017-6954-4.
Wang, Z., Su, Q., Wang, S., Gao, Z., Liu, J., 2021. Spatial distribution and health risk
assessment of dissolved heavy metals in groundwater of eastern China coastal zone.
Environ. Pollut. 290, 118016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118016.
Watts, P., Howe, P., 2010. Strontium and Strontium Compounds. World Health
Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Williams, B., Onsman, A., Brown, T., 2010. Exploratory factor analysis: a five-step guide
for novices. Aust. J. Paramed. 8, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.33151/ajp.8.3.93.
Xu, Y., Dai, S., Meng, K., Wang, Y., Ren, W., Zhao, L., Christie, P., Teng, Y., 2018.
Occurrence and risk assessment of potentially toxic elements and typical organic
pollutants in contaminated rural soils. Sci. Total Environ. 630, 618–629. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.212.
Zhang, H., Zhou, X., Wang, L., Wang, W., Xu, J., 2018a. Concentrations and potential
health risks of strontium in drinking water from Xi’an, Northwest China. Ecotox.
Environ. Safe. 164, 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.08.017.
Zhang, H., Cheng, S., Li, H., Fu, K., Xu, Y., 2020. Groundwater pollution source
identification and apportionment using PMF and PCA-APCA-MLR receptor models in
a typical mixed land-use area in Southwestern China. Sci. Total Environ. 741,
140383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140383.
Zhang, X., Zhong, T., Liu, L., Ouyang, X., 2015. Impact of soil heavy metal pollution on
food safety in China. PLoS One 10, e0135182. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0135182.
Zhang, Y., Li, S., Chen, Z., Wang, F., Chen, J., Wang, L., 2018b. A systemic ecological risk
assessment based on spatial distribution and source apportionment in the abandoned
lead acid battery plant zone, China. J. Hazard Mater. 354, 170–179. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.04.054.
Zoraga, M., Kahruman, C., 2014. Kinetics of conversion of celestite to strontium
carbonate in solutions containing carbonate, bicarbonate and ammonium ions and
dissolved ammonia. J. Serb. Chem. Soc. 79, 359. https://doi.org/10.2298/
JSC130307066Z.