Distribution of Heavy Metals and Arsenic in Greenbelt Roadside Soils of Pudong New District in Shanghai

We studied the distribution of seven heavy metals and As in typical municipal greenbelt roadside soils in Pudong New District, Shanghai, China. As and Ni showed no significant accumulation compared with the background values of the local soils, but there was strong evidence of accumulation of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn in the roadside soils. However, only Zn and Cd contents were higher than the pollution thresholds of the Chinese National Soil Quality standard. The concentrations of heavy metal(loid)s in the soils were significantly affected by the length of time since the roads were constructed. Soils from areas adjacent to an older road had higher levels of Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn. In terms of spatial distribution, more Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were found in the soil from the green areas of median between carriageways than from those of the roadside verges. Vertical distribution analysis shows that the contents of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn had maximum values in the topsoil and were substantially lower in the deeper layers of the soil profile. Moreover, correlation analysis reveals that these four heavy metals originated from the same pollution sources and their contents were directly associated with the traffic density.