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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.)

To improve the ecological environment quality of industrial cities and protect the health of residents, we determined the priority control factors of heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) pollution and risk in the resuspended street dust (RSD) of Shijiazhuang, an emblematic heavy-industrial city in North China, according to the probabilistic risk assessment method. The results showed that the HMs studied in Shijiazhuang RSD exhibited different pollution levels, that is, Hg showed moderate-to-severe pollution and above; Zn showed moderate-and-above pollution; Co, Cu and Pb showed non-pollution to moderate pollution; while As, Cr, Mn and Ni showed no pollution. The overall contamination of HMs in the RSD presented moderate-to-above contamination levels in >94% of samples. Mercury exhibited considerable-to-very-high ecological risk. The synthetic ecological risks of the HMs were considerable-to-above. The comprehensive pollution and synthetic ecological risk of HMs in Shijiazhuang RSD were mainly caused by Hg. The carcinogenic risk of HMs in RSD to local inhabitants and their non-carcinogenic risk to children should not be ignored. Coal-related industrial sources are a priority source to control. Hg and As are priority HMs to control. We suggest that local governments should strengthen the management of coal-related industrial sources and As and Hg emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination, hazard level and source of 10 widely concerned potentially toxic metal(loid)s (PTMs) Co, As, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, Ba, and V in fine dust with particle size below 63 μm (FD63) were investigated to assess the environmental quality of college campuses and influencing factors. PTMs sources were qualitatively analyzed using statistical methods and quantitatively apportioned using positive matrix factorization. Probabilistic contamination degrees of PTMs were evaluated using enrichment factor and Nemerow integrated enrichment factor. Eco–health risk levels of content–oriented and source–oriented for PTMs were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Mean levels of Zn (643.8 mg kg−1), Pb (146.0 mg kg−1), Cr (145.9 mg kg−1), Cu (95.5 mg kg−1), and Ba (804.2 mg kg−1) in FD63 were significantly larger than soil background values. The possible sources of the concerned PTMs in FD63 were traffic non–exhaust emissions, natural source, mixed source (auto repair waste, paints and pigments) and traffic exhaust emissions, which accounted for 45.7%, 25.4%, 14.5% and 14.4% of total PTMs contents, respectively. Comprehensive contamination levels of PTMs were very high, mainly caused by Zn pollution and non–exhaust emissions. Combined ecological risk levels of PTMs were low and moderate, chiefly caused by Pb and traffic exhaust emissions. The non–cancer risks of the PTMs in FD63 to college students fell within safety level, while the carcinogenic PTMs in FD63 had a certain cancer risks to college students. The results of source–specific health risk assessment indicated that Cr and As were the priority PTMs, and the mixed source was the priority pollution source of PTMs in FD63 from college campuses, which should be paid attention to by the local government. • Elevated Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, and Ba were found in fine dust from college campuses. • Potentially toxic metal(loid)s had a certain cancer risks to college students. • Vehicle-related sources were the main anthropogenic sources of elevated metals. • Mixed source was the priority pollution source. • Cr and As were the priority pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]