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Trace Metals in the Urban Environment and Human Health Risks

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 11203

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Efstratios Kelepertzis

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Guest Editor

Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece
Interests: urban geochemistry, soil and water contamination, environmental geology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Fotini Botsou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 15784, Greece
Interests: water, sediment, and soil quality, speciation of trace metals, trace metal processes, environmental magnetism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the course of the last century, the majority of world’s population has become urban and projections show that nearly all of the expected population growth in the next decades will take place in urban areas. The rapid urbanization, often accompanying industrialization, has led to a large release of numerous hazardous compounds, including toxic and carcinogenic trace metals (e.g., Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Sb). Past and present accumulation of trace metals in a variety of environmental media, such as air, soil, dust, and water may have great impact on the health and well-being of urban residents. Among the major challenges for the scientific community are the assessment and evaluation of the occurrence, sources and dispersion mechanisms of trace metals, and related exposure pathways to urban populations.

For this Special Issue, we invite researchers to submit original articles or reviews addressing the environmental quality at the urban scale with respect to trace metals in diverse environmental media (e.g., particulate matter, soil, road dust, indoor dust, water, plants) and their implications to human health. The ambition of this Special Issue is to cover all aspects of the biogeochemical cycles of trace metals, including their sources, mobility, dispersion, and fate within urban settings. Special focus will be given to the interconnection and interaction of trace metals between the various sampling media, advancing our understanding of their environmental behavior within the complex environment of urban agglomerations.

Editors will consider articles that will include but are not limited to the following topics:

source identification and apportionment of trace metals
trace metal speciation, mobility, oral and respiratory bioaccessibility
quantification of trace metals in plants within the urban environment
air and indoor environmental quality
water and sediment quality of urban watersheds
health risk assessments to urban population

Dr. Efstratios Kelepertzis
Dr. Fotini Botsou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

urban geochemistry
potentially toxic elements
urban dust
house dust
particulate matter
urban agriculture
urban atmosphere

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 9331 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Fate of Trace Elements in Depositional Sediments after Flashflood Events: The Case of Mandra Town in Greece

by Paraskevi Maria Kourgia, Ariadne Argyraki, Vasiliki Paraskevopoulou, Fotini Botsou, Efstratios Kelepertzis and Manos Dassenakis

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2448; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14042448 - 21 Feb 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2035

Abstract

Flash floods are one of the harshest natural hazards, having a wide range of substantial impacts for human and environmental health in the short-term and long-term. On 15 November 2017, a high-intensity storm caused a catastrophic flash flood event in the town of Mandra, a western, outer suburb of the Athens Metropolitan Area in Greece. In this study, we determine the aqua regia extractable concentrations of trace elements in residual sediments and associated soils after the flash flood and evaluate the fractionation of contaminants in geochemical compartments. Geochemical data are coupled with physicochemical parameter measurements and mineralogy to identify possible factors explaining the variability of trace element concentrations, while a dilute acid extraction is used to monitor changes of the reactive fraction of the trace elements over the term of 1 year following the flood event. Aqua regia concentrations in flood-deposited sediments reached values of 1 mg/kg (Cd), 24 mg/kg (Co), 183 mg/kg (Cr), 599mg/kg (Cu), 1080 mg/kg (Mn), 195 mg/kg (Ni), 122 mg/kg (Pb) and 945 mg/kg (Zn). Multivariate statistical techniques classified the elements according to their natural or anthropogenic origin. Trace elements of geogenic origin (As, Co, Cr, Mn, Ni) dominate in flood deposited material. The cluster of anthropogenic elements (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn,) shows significant correlation with total organic carbon and magnetic susceptibility, while a significant seasonal variation has been observed for total organic carbon, Cd and Mn contents in the deposited sediments. Results allow a better understanding of the distribution of elements in the surface cover during and after catastrophic events in urban areas and provide useful information on the long-term exposure of the residents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trace Metals in the Urban Environment and Human Health Risks)

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16 pages, 2828 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Heavy Metals in Soil and Sand from Playgrounds of Çanakkale City (Turkey), and Related Health Risks for Children

by Mehmet Parlak, Tülay Tunçay and Fotini Botsou

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1145; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031145 - 20 Jan 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1851

Abstract

Children spend most of their time in playgrounds and, in parallel, constitute the social group most sensitive to contaminants. Here, we present the results of a comparative study of heavy-metal contents between soils and sand from sandboxes obtained from playgrounds of Çanakkale city. Average contents of soils followed the order of iron (Fe) (12,901 mg kg⁻¹) > manganese (Mn) (475 mg kg⁻¹) > zinc (Zn) (58 mg kg⁻¹) > copper (Cu) (28 mg kg⁻¹) > nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr) (21 mg kg⁻¹) > lead (Pb) (18 mg kg⁻¹). Sand had lower contents, however, due to the reduction of particles size through prolonged use, and accumulation of Fe/Mn (oxyhydr)oxides on sand grains tended to diminish the differences between soils and sand. Through chemometric analysis, Cr and Ni were found to have a lithogenic origin, while the rest of metals were related to anthropogenic activities. Spatially, heavy-metal contents followed the pattern of the city’s sprawl. Risk estimates on children’s health showed that ingestion was the most important exposure route, followed by dermal contact and inhalation. Exposure of children to sand was of similar importance to that of soils. These findings are significant, as the contamination of sand has not yet received much attention compared to the soil of playgrounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trace Metals in the Urban Environment and Human Health Risks)

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16 pages, 1257 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preliminary Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination and Source Identification in Kuala Lumpur SMART Stormwater Pond Sediments Using Pb Isotopic Signature

by Nabeel Abdullah Alrabie, Ferdaus Mohamat-Yusuff, Hashim Rohasliney, Zufarzaana Zulkeflee, Mohammad Noor Azmai Amal, Aziz Arshad, Syaizwan Zahmir Zulkifli, Anugrah Ricky Wijaya, Najat Masood and Muhamad Shirwan Abdullah Sani

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9020; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169020 - 12 Aug 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2356

Abstract

Uncontrolled urbanization and growing industrialization are major sources of pollutants that affect the urban stormwater quality and, therefore, the receiving aquatic environment. The concentrations of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, and Zn), and Pb isotope ratios in surface sediment samples obtained from SMART holding and storage ponds located in Kuala Lumpur were investigated using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The highest metal concentrations were found at the SMART holding pond (SHP), the first recipient of urban stormwater runoff from the SMART system catchment area. As, Cd, Pb, and Zn are the dominant metal contaminants in the sediments of both SMART ponds, with values exceeding the average shale values. According to contamination indices applied to evaluate the environmental risk caused by heavy metals, As had the highest values among the metals examined, denoting moderate contamination. Hence, it can frequently cause harmful effects on the sediment-living species. The Pb isotope ratios (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb) indicated that coal combustion was the foremost source of anthropogenic Pb in the sediments of both SMART ponds. The control of coal combustion and sites undergoing intensive human activities should be given priority in the foreseeable future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trace Metals in the Urban Environment and Human Health Risks)

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Review

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21 pages, 2358 KiB

Open AccessReview

Global Systematic Mapping of Road Dust Research from 1906 to 2020: Research Gaps and Future Direction

by Lucy Semerjian, Kunle Okaiyeto, Mike O. Ojemaye, Temitope Cyrus Ekundayo, Aboi Igwaran and Anthony I. Okoh

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11516; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132011516 - 18 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2566

Abstract

Roadside dust resulting from industrialization of society has an adverse effect on the environment and human health. However, despite the global research progress in this field, to date, no bibliometric report on the subject has been documented. Hence, bibliometric mapping is important to assess the quality and quantity of the global research activities on road dust. Data were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus, while RStudio software was used for data analysis. A total of 1186 publications were retrieved from these databases, and progressive growth in the subject over the last 10 years was observed, considering the positive correlation (y = 0.0024 × 3 − 0.1454 × 2 + 2.6061 × −8.5371; R2 = 0.961) obtained for these indices. China had the highest publications, and environmental science-related journals dominated publications on road dust. The findings suggest that other regions of the world, such as the Middle East and Africa, need to channel their research efforts toward this field, considering the shortage of publications on the subject from these regions. Therefore, this study shows that assessing research activity on road dust is important for planning impactful research directions and setting protective and adaptive policies related to the field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trace Metals in the Urban Environment and Human Health Risks)

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