Potentially toxic elements in the soils of Campi Flegrei (south Italy) and the immediate surroundings: Spatial distribution, origin and probabilistic human health risk.

Campi Flegrei is an active volcanic field in south Italy where the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are of growing concern because the intensive anthropogenic and volcanic activities might pose adverse human health effects. In this article, 394 topsoils (0-15 cm) are collected for instrumental analysis of the <2 mm fraction. The geochemical maps indicate that higher concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni and Sb are related to the urban area, but greater levels of As, Tl, Co, Cu, Se and V are observed in the other parts. A robust principal component analysis detected: (1) the Pb-Zn-Hg-Cd-Sb-Cr-Ni association that probably highlights anthropogenic activities such as heavy traffic load and fossil fuel combustion in the urbanized area; (2) the Al-Fe-Mn-Ti-Tl-V-Co-As-U-Th association that mostly reveals the contribution of pyroclastic deposits; and (3) the Na-K-B association that feasibly indicates the weathering degree. The probabilistic health risk modeling for the children under 6 years old shows negligible Pb and Zn non-carcinogenic risk and unexpected Pb carcinogenic risk for exposure through soil ingestion. However, for the inhalation pathway, the children aged <1 year old have the highest chance (90%) of acceptable (i.e. between 1E-6 and 1E-4) Pb carcinogenic health risk. This should not be overlooked because Naples is under high environmental pressure and previous studies reported the increased Pb and Zn quantities in soil over a 26-year timespan. Overall, the results of geostatistical interpolation, compositional data analysis and probabilistic health risk modeling potentially uncover the link between soil geochemistry and human health.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils around oil refineries; Case study: Erbil and Kirkuk refineries, Iraq- A modelling approach.

Purpose: Political tensions in Iraq have made attention to environmental issues not a priority for the authorities. Therefore, the influence of Kirkuk and Erbil refineries on contamination of the surrounding soil by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were studied. Methods: 25 soil samples were collected and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and their fate and health risk were investigated using Exposure Model for Soil-Organic Fate and Transport (EMSOFT) and the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) model. Results: High ∑PAHs contamination (raged from 212.8 to 12,790.4 ppb), the dominance of pyrogenic sources, and high ecological risk were observed. The mean hazard index values for children (0.043) are higher than those for adults (0.02), while the incremental lifetime carcinogenic risk values for adults (8.50E-4) are greater than those for children (5.27E-4). Pyrene is the significant soil PAH from the depth of 3 cm downwards, while phenanthrene and fluorene are the major constituents of PAHs between the depth of 3 and 10 cm. Also, low molecular weight PAHs significantly decrease in soil layers over the time frame, and maximum PAHs concentrations belong to high molecular weight PAHs over 20 years. Conclusion: Using an appropriate monitoring system, as well as sound management decisions to reduce the emission of environmental pollution are needed. Also, it seems that the use of constant values for soil physicochemical parameters such as moisture and porosity, despite seasonal variations, may result in uncertainty for fate and transport modelling. Therefore, seasonal sampling and analysis of soil parameters, would be helpful. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-022-00809-y.

Investigating impact of physicochemical properties of microplastics on human health: A short bibliometric analysis and review.

Microplastics (MPs) are contaminants of emerging concern that attracted the attention of researchers over the last decade. They can occur in saliva and stool, and on scalp hair together with skin. Further, MPs can end up in the human diet through seafood, honey, salt, and mineral water. They can be taken up into the plants' roots and lead to the occurrence of MPs in fruits and vegetables. Concentration of the airborne MPs was also reported in the environment. These pieces of evidence clarify that introduction of MPs to the human body through ingestion and inhalation routes should not be overlooked. Following oral exposure to MPs, hazardous chemicals can be released in the gastrointestinal tract leading to toxicity. Inhalation route deserves more attention due to the oxidative potential of the inhaled plastic particles. Although the major characteristics of MPs are being investigated, there are currently few regulations to control concentration of MPs in the environment and their human health impacts remained unclear indicating the need for further investigation. For instance, it is not clear if the present air quality limits for PM2.5 and PM10 can be used for the areas with high suspended plastic particles. Without comprehensive knowledge about the retention and egestion rates of field populations, it is difficult to deduce the ecological and human health consequences. In general, more information about MP contamination in various species and the consequences of MP uptake and retention is required to gain a better idea of MPs in the food web and their environmental fate. The finer details on the MP translocation between tissues and the fate of the small plastic particles might be obtained when considering the existing information about the application of MPs in the pharmaceutical industry. In this review article, we presented a short bibliometric analysis and investigated the link between physicochemical properties of MPs and human health.

Eutrophication and sediment-water exchange of total petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals of Hashilan wetland, a national heritage in NW Iran.

The heavy metal(loid)s concentrations in water and sediments were analyzed in the Hashilan wetland to assess the spatial distribution, pollution status, fate, partitioning, and ecological risk and also to identify the heavy metal(loid)s sources in sediments using PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization) and APCs-MLR (absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression) receptor models. According to the pollution indices, (Ni, Cu, Cr, Mo), and (Zn, Cr, and Cu) are considered the most important pollutants in sediments and water, respectively. Ni, Cr, and Cu are the main contributors to ecological risks in sediments of some stations. The potential ecological risk assessment proposed low ecological risk in water of the study area. Higher distribution coefficient (Kp) values of Ni, Cr, Mn, Cu, Co, Pb, As, and Zn indicated the majority of these heavy metals present in the sediments; whereas, the majority of Cd concentration occurs in water. PMF and APCs-MLR results indicated the natural sources were the main factors affecting the concentrations of Ni, Cr, Zn, Al, Co, Fe, Pb, As, Cd and somewhat Cu. Mixed natural and agricultural activities are the main sources of Mo, and somewhat Cu. According to the results, there is low pollution of TPH (total petroleum hydrocarbons) in the sediment samples. Also, phosphate (PO42-) and nitrate (NO3-) concentrations were below the recommended permissible limits at all sampling sites except the S8 station for NO3-.

The first application of compositional data analysis (CoDA) in a multivariate perspective for detection of pollution source in sea sediments: The Pozzuoli Bay (Italy) case study.

In the last decades, investigating geochemistry of sea sediments has been challenging in the eastern sector of Pozzuoli Bay, source of the metal(loid)s has been a matter of debate and the proposed origin of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) has been occasionally inconsistent. In this study, compositional data analysis (CoDA) was used because the results are independent of the measurement unit, the selected subgroup of elements and the order of chemicals in the dataset. The robust variant of principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that Hg, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were positively correlated with mud and organic matter in the sediments deposited in front of the former industrial site. Concentrations of these metals decrease along the cores and in the distal zone. Nevertheless, Al, As, V, Fe, Cr, Ni and sand form an association along the coast which strengthens with increasing distance from fumaroles in the proximal zone. It suggests that arsenic was mainly originated from the pyroclastic deposits of Campi Flegrei and some of the seepages with hydrothermal component, supported by low contribution of the variables in robust PCA of the sediments from distal zone. Therefore, this pioneering article suggests CoDA as a powerful tool for answering the long-lasting questions over sediment geochemistry in polluted areas.