ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Soil Sci.
Sec. Soils and Human Health
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoil.2025.1630336
Sources and health risks of heavy metal(loid) contamination in farmland near Shanxi coal mines
Provisionally accepted
Li Cao1Huirong Duan2
Bijun Cheng2Qianying Xiang2Shuhan Wang2Zixuan Fu3Xiaofang Xu3Qianjun Ren3Hanqi Yang4
Yufeng Yu5
Hongmei Zhang6
Xiujuan Yang2*- 1Academy of Medical Science, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 2School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 3School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 4Shanxi Lipu Innovation Technology Co., Ltd, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 5School of Basic Medical Sicences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 6Academic Affairs Office, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Heavy metal(loid) contamination in farmlands around coal mining areas significantly threatens ecosystem stability and human health. In this study, the extent and sources of heavy metal(loid) contamination in farmland near Shanxi coal mines were assessed using the absolute principal component scores-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) model. Additionally, a probabilistic health risk assessment model was developed using Monte Carlo simulation to determine the health risks faced by local residents. The average concentrations of soil Pb, Hg, Mn, and Zn was 28.56mg/kg, 0.17mg/kg, 666.29mg/kg, and 83.49mg/kg, respectively. In maize, Pb, Zn, and Cr concentrations exceeded their respective safety thresholds, with exceedance occurrence rates of 16.67%, 95.83%, and 100%, respectively. Among them, Cr exhibited the highest bioaccumulation factor (BCF), reaching 0.55 in maize.Five main sources of soil heavy metal(loid) contamination were identified: coal mining activities, air pollution, agricultural practices, natural sources, and coal combustion. Probabilistic health risk assessment revealed that the average non-carcinogenic hazard index (HI) values of soil-mediated heavy metal(loid) exposure remained below 1 for both children and adults, although the average HI for children was 2.96 times higher than adults. However, the average HI of maize-mediated heavy metal(loid) exposure exceeded the risk threshold, reaching 1.44 for children and 1.27 for adults. In contrast, the overall carcinogenic risk (CR) of maize-mediated heavy metal(loid) was 3.71 times higher in adults than in children. In conclusion, the farmland near Shanxi coal mines was severely contaminated with heavy metal(loid)s, with coal mining activities being the main pollution source. Local residents, particularly children, faced substantial health threats.
Keywords: Potentially toxic elements (PTEs), Probabilistic health risk assessment, Pollution source, Soil, Maize, Mining areas, Monte Carlo simulation
Received: 17 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cao, Duan, Cheng, Xiang, Wang, Fu, Xu, Ren, Yang, Yu, Zhang and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiujuan Yang, School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.