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Non-ferrous metal smelting activities have always been considered as one of the foremost anthropogenic sources of potentially toxic elements (PTEs). The enrichment factor (EF) and pollution load index (PLI) were used to evaluate the pollution level of soil PTEs; positive matrix factorization (PMF), correlation analysis, and geostatistics were utilized to quantify the sources of soil PTEs; and potential ecological risk (PER) and human health risk (HHR) of different sources from farmland, construction land, and natural land were quantifiably determined via combined PTE sources with PER and HHR assessment models. Taking the smelting area of Daye City as an example, the evaluation results of EF and PLI showed that the soil PTE pollution in the study area was serious, especially Cd and Cu. And four sources were quantitatively allocated as agricultural practices (12.14%), traffic emissions (23.07%), natural sources (33.46%), and industrial activities (31.33%). For PER, industrial activities were the largest contributor to PER, accounting for 55.66%, 56.30%, and 55.36% of farmland, construction land, and natural land, respectively, and Cd was the most dangerous element. In terms of HHR, industrial activities were also the cardinal contributors under the three land use types. Children were exposed to serious non-carcinogenic risks under three land use patterns and slight carcinogenic risk in construction land (1.06E - 04). Significantly, the carcinogenic risk of children in farmland (9.06 × 10 -5 ) was very close to the threshold (1 × 10 -4 ), which requires attention. Both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for adults were all at acceptable levels. The health risks (carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks) of children from four different sources were distinctly higher than those of adults. Consequently, strict management and control of industrial activities should be given priority, and the management of agricultural practices should not be ignored., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Large-scale smelting activities release large amounts of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in fine particles. These particles floating in the air eventually settle on leaves, roads, and even indoors. In smelting areas, indoor environments are generally considered relatively safe. However, these areas are not taken seriously and need to be assessed. This paper systematically studied pollution characteristics, main sources and health risks of ten potentially toxic elements, PTEs (Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Hg, Cd, As, Cr, Pb, and Tl), of dust samples from different indoor environments in smelting areas using various methods. Therefore, this study analyzed dust samples from 35 indoor environments. The enrichment factors showed that the indoor dust samples were extremely enriched by Cd and Cu and significantly enriched by Hg, Pb, As, and Zn. The result of the spatial distribution showed that the high-value PTEs were mainly distributed near the Cu smeltery. Three sources were quantitatively assigned for these PTEs, and they were industrial smelting and traffic activities (44.40%), coal-fired activities (18.11%), and natural existence (37.49%). Based on the calculation of health risk, the value of THI for children was 7.57, indicating a significant non-carcinogenic risk. For carcinogenic risk, the values of TCR for children and adults were 2.91×10 -2 and 2.97×10 -3 , respectively, which were much higher than the acceptable risk value 1×10 -4 . Combining health risk assessment with source discrimination, we found that the industrial discharges and traffic activities were the most main source of non-cancer and cancer risks. Therefore, smelting activities should be more strictly monitored, and traffic emission management should be strengthened., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A total of 321 surface soil samples were collected from Huilai County, Guangdong Province, Southern China. Concentrations of 12 metals (Cr, Hg, As, Pb, Ni, Cd, Cu, Zn, Sb, Sn, Ti, and V) were measured. The mean concentrations of As, Pb, Cd, Zn, Sn, and Ti were higher than their corresponding soil background values, especially for As, Cd, and Sn, which were 1.36, 2.50, and 2.77 times of the background values, respectively. And the results of enrichment factor and pollution load index suggested that soil metals in the study area were moderately contaminated, but pollution of As, Cd, and Sn was relatively serious. According to one-way analysis of variance, there were significant differences in concentrations of Hg, As, Pb, Cd, Zn, and Sn between different land use types, indicating that they were associated with the anthropogenic inputs. The potential sources of metals were quantitatively apportioned by positive matrix factorization, and combined with correlation analysis and geostatistical. The results showed that Cr, Ni, Ti, and V mainly originated from natural sources. Lead, Zn, and partially, Cd mainly came from traffic emissions. Arsenic, Cu, and partially, Sb were ascribed to agricultural practices. Mercury, Sn, partially, Cd, and Sb were derived from industrial activities. Their corresponding contributions were 36.88%, 22.14%, 20.87%, and 20.11%, respectively.