Observational study reveals severe heavy metal contamination in urban soils, indicating high ecological risks across forty percent of assessed urban areas.
Key Points
To evaluate the ecological status, degradation, and contamination levels of urban soils to develop regionally adapted ecosystem assessment and management strategies.
Evaluated urban soils across industrial, residential, and recreational zones in Kursk, Lgov, Zheleznogorsk, and Gubkin within the Central Chernozem Region.
Analyzed chemical properties (organic carbon, pH, nutrient levels), heavy metal concentrations, geochemical barrier capacity, vertical metal migration, and biological components including plants, fungi, and microbiota.
Key soil properties exhibited broad spatial variability, with organic carbon ranging from 0.4% to 8.9%, pHKCl from 3.2 to 7.9, P2O5 from 18 to 845 mg/kg, and K2O from 7 to 500 mg/kg.
Severe heavy metal accumulation reached maximum total concentrations of 2894 mg/kg for lead, 53 mg/kg for cadmium, 2777 mg/kg for zinc, and 1320 mg/kg for copper, with integrated contamination index (Zc) values up to 101.6.
Approximately 40% of urban soils in the western Central Chernozem Region demonstrate high ecological risks, notably driven by industrial and residential contamination.