Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California
Lead (Pb) is an environmental neurotoxicant that has been associated with a wide range of adverse health conditions, and which originates from both anthropogenic and natural sources. In California, the city of Santa Ana represents an urban environment where elevated soil lead levels have been recent...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Toxics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/6/304 |
| _version_ | 1827656300125749248 |
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| author | Shahir Masri Alana M. W. LeBrón Michael D. Logue Patricia Flores Abel Ruiz Abigail Reyes Juan Manuel Rubio Jun Wu |
| author_facet | Shahir Masri Alana M. W. LeBrón Michael D. Logue Patricia Flores Abel Ruiz Abigail Reyes Juan Manuel Rubio Jun Wu |
| author_sort | Shahir Masri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lead (Pb) is an environmental neurotoxicant that has been associated with a wide range of adverse health conditions, and which originates from both anthropogenic and natural sources. In California, the city of Santa Ana represents an urban environment where elevated soil lead levels have been recently reported across many disadvantaged communities. In this study, we pursued a community-engaged research approach through which trained “citizen scientists” from the surrounding Santa Ana community volunteered to collect soil samples for heavy metal testing, a subset of which (n = 129) were subjected to Pb isotopic analysis in order to help determine whether contamination could be traced to specific and/or anthropogenic sources. Results showed the average <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb ratio in shallow soil samples to be lower on average than deep samples, consistent with shallow samples being more likely to have experienced historical anthropogenic contamination. An analysis of soil Pb enrichment factors (EFs) demonstrated a strong positive correlation with lead concentrations, reinforcing the likelihood of elevated lead levels being due to anthropogenic activity, while EF values plotted against <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb pointed to traffic-related emissions as a likely source. <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb ratios for samples collected near historical urban areas were lower than the averages for samples collected elsewhere, and plots of <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb against <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>207</sup> showed historical areas to exhibit very similar patterns to those of shallow samples, again suggesting lead contamination to be anthropogenic in origin, and likely from vehicle emissions. This study lends added weight to the need for health officials and elected representatives to respond to community concerns and the need for soil remediation to equitably protect the public. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:20:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e705c9a8c8da44a0a55869ebf6548386 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2305-6304 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:20:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Toxics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e705c9a8c8da44a0a55869ebf65483862023-11-23T19:16:01ZengMDPI AGToxics2305-63042022-06-0110630410.3390/toxics10060304Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, CaliforniaShahir Masri0Alana M. W. LeBrón1Michael D. Logue2Patricia Flores3Abel Ruiz4Abigail Reyes5Juan Manuel Rubio6Jun Wu7Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Health, Society, and Behavior, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USAOrange County Environmental Justice, Santa Ana, CA 92705, USAJóvenes Cultivando Cambios, Santa Ana, CA 92705, USACommunity Resilience, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USASchool of Humanities, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USALead (Pb) is an environmental neurotoxicant that has been associated with a wide range of adverse health conditions, and which originates from both anthropogenic and natural sources. In California, the city of Santa Ana represents an urban environment where elevated soil lead levels have been recently reported across many disadvantaged communities. In this study, we pursued a community-engaged research approach through which trained “citizen scientists” from the surrounding Santa Ana community volunteered to collect soil samples for heavy metal testing, a subset of which (n = 129) were subjected to Pb isotopic analysis in order to help determine whether contamination could be traced to specific and/or anthropogenic sources. Results showed the average <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb ratio in shallow soil samples to be lower on average than deep samples, consistent with shallow samples being more likely to have experienced historical anthropogenic contamination. An analysis of soil Pb enrichment factors (EFs) demonstrated a strong positive correlation with lead concentrations, reinforcing the likelihood of elevated lead levels being due to anthropogenic activity, while EF values plotted against <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb pointed to traffic-related emissions as a likely source. <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb ratios for samples collected near historical urban areas were lower than the averages for samples collected elsewhere, and plots of <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>204</sup>Pb against <sup>206</sup>Pb/<sup>207</sup> showed historical areas to exhibit very similar patterns to those of shallow samples, again suggesting lead contamination to be anthropogenic in origin, and likely from vehicle emissions. This study lends added weight to the need for health officials and elected representatives to respond to community concerns and the need for soil remediation to equitably protect the public.https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/6/304urban soilPb exposureenvironmental justicelead isotopeheavy metal |
| spellingShingle | Shahir Masri Alana M. W. LeBrón Michael D. Logue Patricia Flores Abel Ruiz Abigail Reyes Juan Manuel Rubio Jun Wu Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California Toxics urban soil Pb exposure environmental justice lead isotope heavy metal |
| title | Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California |
| title_full | Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California |
| title_fullStr | Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California |
| title_full_unstemmed | Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California |
| title_short | Use of Radioisotope Ratios of Lead for the Identification of Historical Sources of Soil Lead Contamination in Santa Ana, California |
| title_sort | use of radioisotope ratios of lead for the identification of historical sources of soil lead contamination in santa ana california |
| topic | urban soil Pb exposure environmental justice lead isotope heavy metal |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/6/304 |
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