Metal concentrations and source identification in Chilean public children's playgrounds.

This study is focused on four Biobio region cities, Concepcion, Talcahuano, Los Ángeles, and Tomé; these cities flourished very close to different industrial activities. We determined a pseudo total concentration of seven heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) in playground soils through inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that contamination in soils comes from three principal sources. Firstly, industrial and burning activities; secondly, the use of phytosanitary and chemical products; and thirdly, vehicular traffic emissions. Zn and Cu are the most abundant analyzed elements in all the playground's soils. Concepción reflected the lowest values of pollutants and Talcahuano the highest, reflecting the industrial effects. The average values of the analyzed elements were Cr = 32.90 mg kg-1; Ni = 23.76 mg kg-1; Cu = 31.51 mg kg-1; Zn = 63.69 mg kg-1; As = 19.51 mg kg-1; Cd = 0.50 mg kg-1; and Pb = 17.59 mg kg-1. Anomalously high values of some elements were found Cu = 462.73 mg kg-1, Zn = 364.39 mg kg-1, As = 34.7 mg kg-1 in Talcahuano, Cd = 1.6 mg kg-1 in Tome, and Pb = 55.59 mg kg-1 in Los Ángeles. Nevertheless, according to international guideline values of pollutants (VROM 2000 and ADEC 2010) there is no risk for children in any playground studied but all playgrounds are a potential risk for the environment. It points out the necessity to continue studying and monitoring Chilean urban playground to prevent health problems in the population. Graphical abstract.

Assessment of Indexes for Heavy Metal Contamination in Remote Areas: A Case Study in a Pyrenean Forest, Navarra, Spain.

The objective of the present work was to verify and compare the performance of different geochemical indices employed to identify the anthropogenic origin of selected heavy metals and other trace elements in soils. To that end, two background values, the upper continental crust and the metal content in the bed rock, were used and obtained from a forested basin of the western Pyrenees. The enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo), and contamination factor (Cif) were finally evaluated for their ability to determine anthropogenic contamination: Results indicate that an in-depth knowledge of the bed rock geochemistry and the geological background content is essential to distinguish between the natural variability of soils and any anthropogenic contribution of heavy metals. Although both EF and Cif show a similar ability to detect soil contamination, the latter is proposed as a more appropriate and sensitive marker given its ability for finding episodically elevated contamination levels.