Quantification of an integrated approach to heavy metal source apportionment and probabilistic health risk assessment in the black soil region of central Jilin Province, China

The northeast black soil region is critical for grain production in China but has experienced significant heavy metals (HMs) contamination due to intensive agriculture. This study investigates the levels of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, As, Pb, and Hg in agricultural soils within the black soil region of central Jilin Province. Enrichment factor (EF) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) indicate that Ni and Cr are significantly affected by human activities, with notable pollution levels. The Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model identifies four primary pollution sources: coal combustion, traffic emissions, and soil parent material (24.70 %); fertilizers and pesticides (24.50 %); mining (27.81 %); and organic fertilizers combined with soil parent material (22.99 %). The potential ecological risk assessment results reveal a generally low potential ecological risk in the study area, although Hg and Cd contribute notably to the overall risk. The human health risk assessment (HHRA) results show that non-carcinogenic risk for all populations are below the threshold of 1, while the average carcinogenic risk for all populations exceed the acceptable threshold of 1E-6. Children face higher non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks compared to adults. By integrating the PMF results with potential ecological and health risk assessments, it was found that coal combustion and mining activities contribute most significantly to potential ecological and health risks, respectively. This study investigates the pollution characteristics, sources, and ecological and health risks of HMs in agricultural soils in the black soil region. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers in developing effective environmental management strategies.