Abstract
The intensive urbanization of environments and technogenic activity has an effect on the accumulation of trace elements in the soil and increases the toxicological risk to the terrestrial ecosystems and human health. We studied the distribution of seven priority trace elements (As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Hg) in the soil of the northernmost city in the world with a population more than 1 million people. To identify the spatial distribution of the trace elements, the GIS technologies have been used. Based on the data obtained, interactive maps of soil pollution were made. It was found that the content of the studied trace elements exceeds the background values for the region and has a “hot spots” character. Four of the studied elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, As) on average exceed values of maximum permissible concentrations in soil. The highest levels of pollution are concentrated in the central part of the city, and this is associated with the location of major transport roads, as well as railway stations located in the city center. Accumulation of trace elements occurs in bottom sediments in the rivers of St. Petersburg, and this is associated with lateral runoff of dust from roads and adjacent areas. The level of contamination of bottom sediments varied with the degree of proximity to major transportation hubs. According to the analysis of the index, Zc was found that 57.35% of all the points studied have extremely high levels of pollution. The data obtained indicates that the accumulation of extremely high concentrations of trace elements can lead to a deterioration in the quality of life of the population.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
11047:1998 I. Soil quality (2020) Determination of cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc—Flame and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric methods. pp 1–18
Abel S, Nehls T, Mekiffer B, Wessolek G (2015) Heavy metals and benzo[a]pyrene in soils from construction and demolition rubble. J Soils Sed 15(8):1771–1780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0959-4
Abrahams PW (2002) Soils: their implications to human health. Sci Total Environ 291(1):1–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(01)01102-0
Adama M, Esena R, Fosu-Mensah B, Yirenya-Tawiah D (2016) Heavy metal contamination of soils around a hospital waste incinerator bottom ash dumps site. J Environ Public Health 2016:8926453. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/8926453
Bhunia GS, Shit PK, Maiti R (2018) Comparison of GIS-based interpolation methods for spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC). J Saudi Soc Agric Sci 17(2):114–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2016.02.001
Blum WEH (2005) Functions of soil for society and the environment. Rev Environ Sci Bio/technol 4(3):75–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-005-2236-x
Bullock P (1991) Soils in the urban environment. Wiley, Blackwell
Chen T-B, Zheng Y-M, Lei M, Huang Z-C, Wu H-T, Chen H et al (2005) Assessment of heavy metal pollution in surface soils of urban parks in Bei**g, China. Chemosphere 60(4):542–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2004.12.072
Deeb M, Groffman PM, Blouin M, Egendorf SP, Vergnes A, Vasenev V et al (2020) Using constructed soils for green infrastructure—challenges and limitations. Soil 6(2):413–434. https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-413-2020
ESDAC: The European Soil Data Centre (2022). https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/. Accessed
Gorbov SN, Bezuglova OS, Varduni TV, Gorovtsov AV, Tagiverdiev SS, Hildebrant YA (2015) Genotoxicity and contamination of natural and anthropogenically transformed soils of the city of Rostov-on-Don with heavy metals. Eurasian Soil Sci 48(12):1383–1392. https://doi.org/10.1134/S106422931512008X
Greinert A (2015) The heterogeneity of urban soils in the light of their properties. J Soils Sed 15(8):1725–1737. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-1054-6
Ji X, Abakumov E, Polyakov V (2019) Assessments of pollution status and human health risk of heavy metals in permafrost-affected soils and lichens: a case-study in Yamal Peninsula, Russia Arctic. Hum Ecol Risk Assess Int J 25(8):2142–2159. https://doi.org/10.1080/10807039.2018.1490887
Kapelkina LP (2010) Pollutants in soils of megacities. Problems and paradoxes of rationing. Ecol Urban Areas 3:13–19
Khan S, Cao Q, Zheng YM, Huang YZ, Zhu YG (2008) Health risks of heavy metals in contaminated soils and food crops irrigated with wastewater in Bei**g, China. Environ Pollut 152(3):686–692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2007.06.056
Korchagina KV, Smagin AV, Reshetina TV (2014) Assessing the technogenic contamination of urban soils from the profile distribution of heavy metals and the soil bulk density. Eurasian Soil Sci 47(8):824–833. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229314080080
Lado LR, Hengl T, Reuter HI (2008) Heavy metals in European soils: a geostatistical analysis of the FOREGS Geochemical database. Geoderma 148(2):189–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2008.09.020
Lu Y, Gong Z, Zhang G, Burghardt W (2003) Concentrations and chemical speciations of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cr of urban soils in Nan**g, China. Geoderma 115(1):101–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(03)00079-X
Lu T, Xu CC, Pan GW, Qin Y, Tang H (2014) The summarized study of heavy metal pollution in the city soil. Appl Mech Mater 587–589:842–848. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.587-589.842
Maksimova E, Abakumov E (2015) Alluviated soils of the Saint-Petersburg city. Bull St Petersburg Univ Ser 3 Biol 4:93–102
Matinyan NN, Bakhmatova KA, Korentsvit VA (2017) Soils of the summer garden (Saint Petersburg). Eurasian Soil Sci 50(6):637–645. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229317060060
Nikiforova EM, Kasimov NS, Kosheleva NE, Timofeev IV (2022) Main features and contamination of sealed soils in the east of Moscow city. Environ Geochem Health 44(6):1697–1711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01132-5
Paltseva AA, Cheng Z, McBride M, Deeb M, Egendorf SP, Groffman PM (2022) Legacy lead in urban garden soils: communicating risk and limiting exposure. Front Ecol Evol, vol 10
Panagos P, Van Liedekerke M, Yigini Y, Montanarella L (2013) Contaminated sites in Europe: review of the current situation based on data collected through a European network. J Environ Public Health 2013:158764. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/158764
Polyakov V, Reznichenko O, Abakumov E, Kostecki J (2020) Ecotoxicological state and pollution status of alluvial soils of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. Soil Sci Ann 71(3):221–235. https://doi.org/10.37501/soilsa/127089
Polyakov V, Nizamutdinov T, Abakumov E, Morgun E (2021) Soil diversity and key functional characteristics of Yakutsk City: largest urbanized cryogenic world’s ecosystem. Energies 14(13). https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133819
Polyakov V, Kozlov A, Suleymanov A, Abakumov E (2021) Soil pollution status of urban soils in St. Petersburg city, North-west of Russia. Soil Water Res 16:164–173
Prokof’eva TV, Shishkov VA, Kiryushin AV, Kalushin IY (2015) Properties of atmospheric solid fallouts in roadside areas of Moscow. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk Seriya Geograficheskaya 3:107–120
Region AotL (2019) About the environmental situation in the Leningrad region in 2018. Leningrad region. pp 1–143
Revich BA, Saet YE, Smirnova RS (1990) Methodological recommendations for assessing the degree of pollution of atmospheric air in populated areas by metals in snow and soil. IMGRE, Moscow
Romzaykina ON, Vasenev VI, Paltseva A, Kuzyakov YV, Neaman A, Dovletyarova EA (2021) Assessing and map** urban soils as geochemical barriers for contamination by heavy metal(loid)s in Moscow megapolis. J Environ Qual 50(1):22–37. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20142
Shamilishvili GA, Abakumov EV, Gabov DN, Alekseev II (2016) Peculiarities of the fractional composition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polyelement pollution of soils of urbanized territories and their hygienic characteristics (on the example of soils of functional zones of St. Petersburg). Hyg Sanitation 95(9):827–837
Ufimtseva MD, Terekhina NV, Abakumov EV (2011) Physico-chemical characteristics of urban soils of the Central district of St Petersburg. Bull St Petersburg Univ 4:85–97
Vasenev VI, Fatiev MM, Lakeev PS, Ivannikov FA, Riccardo V (2012) An approach to access urban soils’ spatial variability at the local level. Bull Peoples’ Friendship Univ Russ Ser: Agron Anim Husbandry S5:13–24
Vlasov DV, Kukushkina OV, Kosheleva NE, Kasimov NS (2022) Levels and factors of the accumulation of metals and metalloids in roadside soils, road dust, and their PM10 fraction in the Western Okrug of Moscow. Eurasian Soil Sci 55(5):556–572. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322050118
Vodyanitskii YN, Yakovlev AS (2011) Assessment of soil contamination by the content of heavy metals in the soil profile. Eurasian Soil Sci 44(3):297–303. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229311010169
Wei B, Yang L (2010) A review of heavy metal contaminations in urban soils, urban road dusts and agricultural soils from China. Microchem J 94(2):99–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2009.09.014
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation in accordance with agreement from 20.04.2023 № 23-16-20003 and Saint-Petersburg Scientific Foundation in accordance with agreement from 05.05.2023 № 23-16-20003.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Polyakov, V. et al. (2023). The Ecotoxicological State of Urban Soils of the Saint Petersburg City. In: Korneykova, M., et al. Smart and Sustainable Urban Ecosystems: Challenges and Solutions. SSC 2022. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37216-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37216-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-37215-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-37216-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)