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The environmental pollution caused by mineral exploitation and energy consumption poses a serious threat to ecological security and human health, particularly in resource-based cities. To address this issue, a comprehensive investigation was conducted on potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in road dust from different seasons to assess the environmental risks and influencing factors faced by Datong City. Multivariate statistical analysis and absolute principal component score were employed for source identification and quantitative allocation. The geo-accumulation index and improved Nemerow index were utilized to evaluate the pollution levels of PTEs. Monte Carlo simulation was employed to assess the ecological-health risks associated with PTEs content and source orientation. Furthermore, geo-detector and random forest analysis were conducted to examine the key environmental variables and driving factors contributing to the spatiotemporal variation in PTEs content. In all PTEs, Cd, Hg, and Zn exhibited higher levels of content, with an average content/background value of 3.65 to 4.91, 2.53 to 3.34, and 2.15 to 2.89 times, respectively. Seasonal disparities were evident in PTEs contents, with average levels generally showing a pattern of spring (winter) > summer (autumn). PTEs in fine road dust (FRD) were primarily influenced by traffic, natural factors, coal-related industrial activities, and metallurgical activities, contributing 14.9-33.9 %, 41.4-47.5 %, 4.4-8.3 %, and 14.2-29.4 % to the total contents, respectively. The overall pollution and ecological risk of PTEs were categorized as moderate and high, respectively, with the winter season exhibiting the most severe conditions, primarily driven by Hg emissions from coal-related industries. Non-carcinogenic risk of PTEs for adults was within the safe limit, yet children still faced a probability of 4.1 %-16.4 % of unacceptable risks, particularly in summer. Carcinogenic risks were evident across all demographics, with children at the highest risk, mainly due to Cr and smelting industrial sources. Geo-detector and random forest model indicated that spatial disparities in prioritized control elements (Cr and Hg) were primarily influenced by particulate matter (PM 10 ) and anthropogenic activities (industrial and socio-economic factors); variations in particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) and meteorological factors (wind speed and precipitation) were the primary controllers of seasonal disparities of Cr and Hg., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Urban communities are important places for residents' daily life and activities. This study determined the contamination, eco-health hazards, and influencing factors of certain carcinogenic toxic elements (CTEs) in resuspendable surface dust (RSD) of urban communities in Xi'an. The results indicated that the mean contents of As (12.7 mg kg−1), Cr (132.9 mg kg−1), Ni (33.5 mg kg−1), and Pb (112.6 mg kg−1) in the study areas were higher than their background values. The contamination level and eco-health risk were quantified based on the enrichment factor, Nemerow integrated enrichment factor, modified Nemerow integrated ecological risk index, and health risk estimation method, combined with Monte Carlo simulation. The overall pollution and ecological risk of CTEs in the RSD were moderate and low, respectively. CTEs in RSD have a high cancer risk to all residents (over-standard rate > 80%) and non-cancer risk to children (over-standard rate = 26.9%) in Xi'an. The major factors affecting the environmental risks of CTEs were traffic and residential activities. Vegetation distribution in the city reduced the environmental risks of CTEs in the RSD. Therefore, future management strategies should focus more on protecting children's health, increasing green spaces and public transportation, and maintaining the hygiene of urban communities. [Display omitted] • High levels of Cr, Pb, and Ni were found in community resuspendable surface dust. • Pb exhibited higher pollution and ecological risk than other elements. • The overall ecological risk of carcinogenic toxic elements was low. • The carcinogenic risk of carcinogenic toxic elements was at a high level. • Traffic and residents' activities were identified as priority human activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban road dust (URD) is a primary source of pollutants in urban environments. The contamination of heavy metals (HMs) in URD from urban area of Xingtai, a typical industrial city in China, was evaluated using enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index, and Nemerow integrated enrichment factor, along with Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The HM sources in the URD were apportioned using positive matrix factorization (PMF). We employed a combination of PMF and MCS to estimate the probabilistic ecological-health risks of source-specific HMs in the URD and to identify priority sources and pollutants for HMs pollution control in the URD. Compared to the background values, the URD had elevated Pb, Co, Cr, Cu, Zn, and Ba concentrations. The overall pollution levels and ecological risks of the HMs were heavy and moderate, respectively, and were mainly caused by Co. The potential carcinogenic risks posed by HMs in URD to residents, and their non-carcinogenic risks to children, cannot be overlooked. The HMs in the URD originated mainly from industrial, mixed, and atmospheric deposition sources, accounting for 28.8, 30.8, and 40.4% of the total HMs, respectively. Mixed and industrial sources were priority sources, and Co and Cr were priority control HMs in the URD. [Display omitted] • High concentrations of Co, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Ba were found in urban road dust. • The combined ecological risk of heavy metals in urban road dust was moderate. • The health risk of heavy metals in the dust was higher for children than for adults. • Mixed and industrial sources are priority sources of heavy metal pollution. • Co and Cr are priority control heavy metals in urban road dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]