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Global concern about the accumulation of heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) in agricultural soils and its subsequent effects on human health has increased. In particular, arsenic is a metalloid with known toxic and carcinogenic properties. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating arsenic contamination in agricultural soils of Hashtroud County, while assessing the levels of some heavy metals and the associated ecological and health risks due to possible exposure to these contaminants. The average concentrations of zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cobalt (Co), and cadmium (Cd) (respectively, 72, 42, 41, 40, 24, 16, 13, and 0.6 (mg/kg)) did not exceed the national guideline value except for As. Arsenic was the element most enriched in the study area (enrichment factor (EF): 3.3). In general, the soil samples showed moderate ecological risk (RI = 174.17). The non-carcinogenic risks of HMs were acceptable, while the carcinogenic risk value (LCR) for As exceeded the threshold of 1 × 10−4 at 10% of the samples. Source attribution of HMs using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model showed that Zn and Pb were mainly due to vehicle emissions. Agricultural activities and atmospheric deposition were the predominant sources of Cu and Zn; As and Cd were from natural sources; and Ni, Cr, and Co were from mixed sources of pedogenic factors and agricultural activities. To conclude, in study area, addressing arsenic as a main concern is crucial due to its ecological and health risks. The agro-geogenic source with a contribution rate of 64.87%, was identified as the primary origin of the elements. Further research is needed to investigate the bioaccumulation and bioavailability of HMs in the soil-crop system.
Nemati et al. (Sat,) studied this question.