Characteristics of Elements and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in PM2.5 at the Southwest Suburb of Chengdu in Spring

PM2.5 samples were collected at the southwest suburb of Chengdu in spring (in May 2012 and 2014). The mass concentrations of PM2.5 were determined by the weight method, and 24 chemical elements in PM2.5 were analyzed by XRF. To study the pollution characteristics and sources of chemical elements, and the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in PM2.5, the Geo-accumulation Index, Enrichment Factor, and Potential Ecological Risk Index methods were applied, respectively. The results indicated that the mass concentrations of PM2.5 in spring at the southwest suburb of Chengdu were very high, compared with American EPA's Standard and National Standard level-Ⅱ. The detection of chemical element composition in PM2.5 showed that K and S were the main elements, whereas the contents of Ga, Cs, Co, Cd, and V were the lowest. The differences of elemental concentrations in PM2.5 showed relatively large differences, when compared with domestic and foreign representative cities. Se, Cd, As, Br, S, Pb, Cl and Zn were present at an extremely high level of geo-accumulation degree, which revealed that the pollution coming from human activities was serious. The analysis results of enrichment factor showed that Se, Cd, As, Br, Cl, Pb, Zn and S elements were highly enriched or hyper accumulated, Cu, Cs, Ni, Ga and Co elements were moderately enriched, and they were mainly from human activities rather than soil dust. Cr, Mn, Ca and V elements were mildly enriched, and they were from both natural sources and human activities. Na, Ti, Al, Si and Mg elements were scarcely enriched, and they were mainly from natural sources. The ecological risk assessment of heavy metals showed that the order of potential ecological risk inedx of heavy metals in PM2.5 was Cd > As > Pb > Cu > Zn > Ni > Co > Cr > Mn > V > Ti, while the ecological harm degree of Cd was extremely strong, and the whole potential ecological risk degree was very strong.