Anthropogenic mercury enrichment factors and contributions in soils of Guangdong Province, South China

A total of 260 soil profiles were analyzed to estimate the anthropogenic contribution to total Hg content of soils in the Guangdong province by using the enrichment factor method. The results revealed that soil Manganese (Mn) as the reference element was appropriate for establishing the enrichment factor and assessing anthropogenic contribution to soil total Hg. The anthropogenic enrichment factors (EFs) suggested that some hotspots (EFs > 4) related to the anthropogenic Hg export can be identified, such as some mining of polymetallic ore in northern areas, coal exploitation in eastern areas, gold mine in western areas, and some chlor-alkali plants along the coast in the study area. The results of anthropogenic Hg contribution indicated that about 70% of the study areas suffer obvious anthropogenic Hg interference, of which anthropogenic Hg contribution to soil total Hg content was up to 72-90% in 20% of the study areas. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.