Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368

www.elsevier.com/locate/apgeochem

Heavy metal contamination of urban soils and

street dusts in Hong Kong
Xiangdong Li *, Chi-sun Poon, Pui Sum Liu
Environmental Engineering Unit, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract
Due to rapid urbanisation and scarcity of land, most of the urban parks and recreational areas in Hong Kong are
built close to major roads or industrial areas, where they are subject to many potential pollution sources, including
vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions. An extensive soil survey was conducted in urban parks of Hong Kong to
study the current conditions of heavy metals contamination in soils. Soil samples and associated street dusts were col-
lected from more than 60 parks and public amenity areas in old urban districts, industrial areas and New Towns of the
territory. Soils were also sampled in the remote country parks to establish the baseline conditions. The total con-
centrations of heavy metals and major elements in the samples were determined. The results indicate that urban soils in
Hong Kong have elevated concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The parks with high metal concentrations are located
in old urban commercial districts and industrial areas, indicating that the major contamination sources in these soils
are traffic emissions and industrial activities. In addition, the application of Cd containing phosphate fertilizers may be
an important source of Cd in urban park soils. The street dusts have highly elevated Zn concentration, particularly
along the main trunk roads. The high Zn content in the street dusts may come from traffic sources, especially vehicle
tyres. Selective soil and road dust samples were also analysed for potential chemical speciation by a sequential chemical
extraction method. The chemical partitioning results show that Pb and Zn are mainly in the carbonate/adsorbed and
Fe–Mn oxide phases, while Cu is largely associated with the organic and sulphide fractions. The high exchangeable Cd
in urban soils and high concentration of Zn in street dusts need further investigation for their ecological and health
implications. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Heavy metals may come from many different sources in

With a population of over 6.8 million and an area of
only 1067 km2, Hong Kong is one of the most densely
populated areas in the world. The rapid urbanization
and continuous demand for land for housing and infra-
structural development have put great pressure on the
local environment (EPD, 1993). Due to the scarcity of
land, most of the parks in Hong Kong are built close to
busy roads or near industrial areas, where they are sub-
ject to potential pollution from various sources.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2766-6041; fax: +852-
2334-6389.
E-mail address: cexdli@polyu.edu.hk (X. Li).
0883-2927/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0883-2927(01)00045-2
urbanized areas, including vehicle emissions, industrial
discharges and other activities (Harrison et al., 1981;
Gibson and Farmer, 1986; Thornton, 1991). Atmo-
spheric pollution is one of the major sources of heavy
metal contamination. Heavy metals can accumulate in
topsoil from atmospheric deposition by sedimentation,
impaction and interception. The persistence of heavy
metals in soils is a long process (Alloway, 1990; Kelly et al.,
1996). Top soils and roadside dusts in urban area are indi-
cators of heavy metal contamination from atmospheric
deposition. It has been noted that roadside soils near heavy
traffic are polluted by Pb and other metals (Culbard et al.,
1988; Leharne et al., 1992; Wong and Mak, 1997).
If children and elderly people are exposed to an envir-
onment with high metal contamination, their health
1362 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368
may be affected. Studies of metal concentrations in play-
ground dusts ingested by children via the hand–mouth
pathway have been carried out in a number of places
(Davies et al., 1990; Watt et al., 1993). There is sub-
stantial evidence that a high Pb level in the environment
could affect blood Pb level, intelligence and behaviour
(McMichael et al., 1985; Bellinger et al., 1990; Dietrich
et al., 1990).
Cadmium, Cu, Pb and Zn are good indicators of
contamination in soils because they appear in gasoline,
car components, oil lubricants, industrial and incin-
erator emissions (Adriano, 1986; Alloway, 1990). There
have been a number of previous studies on the distribu-
tion of heavy metals in road dusts and soils in Hong
Kong (Wong and Tam, 1978; Tam et al., 1987; Yim and
Nau, 1987; Wong et al., 1996; Chen et al., 1997). How-
ever, these studies focused only on limited locations,
particularly along major traffic roads and there is no
extensive survey on general soil conditions in urban
parks. In addition, the chemical forms of heavy metals
in urban soils have seldom been studied in the past. The
present investigation aims to assess heavy metal con-
tamination in urban parks and roadside dusts in Hong
Kong, and to study their possible sources and potential
ecological implications.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. The study area
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)
consists of three geographical areas, namely the Hong
Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsular and the New
Territories (Fig. 1). Most of the central commercial and
traditional residential areas are located in the northern
part of the Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Penin-
sular. Since the 1970s, rapid urbanisation has been tak-
ing place in the New Territories with a number of new
towns built up in the north and west parts of the tradi-
tional agricultural area. The new towns usually consist
of residential and commercial sites, and industrial
estates. However, the industrial activities in Hong Kong
have been much reduced in the last 20 years following
the migration of industrial operations to Mainland
China. Most of the hilly forest areas in Hong Kong are
managed as country parks, which are mainly located in
the New Territories, Lantau Island and the southern
part of the Hong Kong Island.
2.2. The sampling and analysis
Soils from 65 urban parks in Hong Kong were sam-
pled in this study to reflect the different land use and
traffic conditions. Of these 65 parks, 21 were on the
Hong Kong Island, 22 were in the Kowloon Peninsula,
and the remaining 22 were in the New Territories (Fig. 1).
The urban parks may be classified into three different
land use areas, namely, residential, commercial and
industrial areas according to its adjacent land use. Street
dust samples were collected around the selected urban
parks during the sampling programme. In total, 505 soil
samples and 45 roadside dust samples were collected. In
order to obtain the general baseline condition, about
300 soil samples were also collected from 15 country
parks in the study (Fig. 1).
Each soil sample consists of about 4–5 sub-samples
collected from the sampling plot of about 4 m2 in an urban
park lawn. At each sampling point, the top 10 cm layer of
the soil profile was taken using a stainless steel trowel.
Roadside dust samples were collected along major roads
near the selected urban parks using a plastic brush and
tray. The soil and duct samples collected were stored in
plastic bags for subsequent sample preparation and
analysis.
The samples were dried in an oven at 35 C for 3 days.
The dried samples were sieved in a 2-mm plastic sieve to
remove gravel-sized materials and large plant roots, and
then homogenized with a mortar and a pestle. A small
portion of the sample (0.5 g) was microwave-digested in
10 ml of 69% nitric acid using a CEM Corporation
microwave extraction system. The microwave extraction
method USEPA3051 was used according to the CEM
Corporation (1996). The digested solutions were filtered
and made to 50 ml with deionized water, and stored in
plastic bottles. Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn
were determined by ICP-AES (Perkin-Elmer Optima
3300DV).
In the quality assurance programme, standard refer-
ence materials obtained from the Resource Technology
Corporation (RTC, Laramie, WY 82073, USA) were
used for each batch of 12-sample analysis. The tested
values were all > 90% of the certified values provided
by RTC. Reagent blanks and duplicate samples were
also used in the analytical programme to assess con-
tamination, precision and bias. The precision and bias
in the analysis were generally < 10%.
Selected soil and road dust samples were also subject
to sequential chemical extraction in order to study the
possible chemical forms of the heavy metals. The details
of the sequential chemical extraction procedure and the
ICP-AES analysis have been given by Tessier et al.
(1979) and Li et al. (1995a,b). The extraction was car-
ried out progressively on an initial weight of 1.0 g of test
material. The extractants and operationally defined che-
mical fractions are as follows: (1) fraction 1: exchange-
able; (2) fraction 2: bound to carbonate and specifically
adsorbed; (3) fraction 3: bound to Fe–Mn oxides; (4)
fraction 4: bound to organic matter and sulphide; and
(5) fraction 5: residual phase. Multi-element analysis
was performed by ICP-AES using an ARL34000C
model (Ramsey and Thompson, 1987). The accuracy
 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368 1363

Fig. 1. The location map of the urban parks and country parks in Hong Kong.

and precision were assessed by use of international Table 1

reference materials and analysis of duplicate samples (Li Heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg) in soils of urban parks
et al., 1995 a,b). The precisions were around 5% for and country parks in Hong Kong
most of elements determined. The overall recovery rates Cd Cu Pb Zn
(the sum of 5 fractions/the independent total con-
centration) ranged from 85 to 110%. Urban parks
(594 samples from 65 parks)
Range 0.02–5.89 5.12–190 5.27–404 38.7–435
3. Results and discussion Mean 2.18 24.8 93.4 168
Geometric mean 1.95 22.3 89.7 146
Standard deviation 1.02 12.0 37.3 74.8
3.1. The heavy metal concentrations in urban parks and
country parks Country parks
(300 samples from 15 parks)
The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in urban Range 0.02–0.37 2.57–13.8 3.58–28.2 23.8–164
Mean 0.15 5.17 8.66 76.6
park soils and country park soils are given in Table 1.
Geometric mean 0.13 4.90 7.70 74.0
The heavy metal concentrations in the country park soils Standard deviation 0.09 1.86 4.84 22.6
are generally low. The major parent materials for the
country park soils are granite and volcanic rocks with
low concentrations of heavy metals. In addition, the
surface soils in the country parks are also under possible comparison with the country parks, the urban soils show
strong leaching process under the subtropical weather significant enrichment in all the metals, particularly for
conditions. As most of the country parks in Hong Kong Cd and Pb. The metal concentrations in urban park soils
are located in elevated forest areas, they are not subject could represent the long-term contamination of heavy
to many contamination sources as in the urban areas. In metals from various sources in the city environment.
1364 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368

The results of two urban soil studies in the UK and a reflect the strong influence of industrial activities in the
previous survey in Hong Kong are listed in Table 2. In new development areas despite of the shorter history of
comparison with the old industrial cities, like London industrial land use.
and Glasgow, the heavy metal (Cu, Pb and Zn) con- It is interesting to note the Cu, Pb and Zn concentra-
centrations in urban soils of Hong Kong are generally tions in the urban park soils were significantly related to
lower. This may reflect the long history of industrial the age of the parks (Fig. 3). The newly built parks were
contamination in urban environment in these two cities. generally less contaminated with heavy metals. This
However, the Cd concentration in Hong Kong urban may be due to the shorter accumulation time for heavy
soils is about two times higher than those of London metals from many contamination sources in the urban
and Glasgow, which may indicate the presence of some areas as the soils in the newly built parks were mostly
special sources for this element. It has been shown that imported from uncontaminated agriculture land.
the application of fertilizer to soils can be an important
source of Cd (Mattigod and Page, 1983; Alloway, 1990).
The analysis of five common fertilizers used in the
urban parks revealed that the mean concentration of Cd
in the fertilizers was 3.1 mg/kg. Therefore, the long term
application of fertilizer can probably cause the accu-
mulation of Cd in the topsoil of urban parks in Hong
Kong.
Compared with a previous study on school play-
ground soils in Hong Kong (Wong et al., 1996), the
concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb in the current study are
quite similar while the Zn concentration is higher in the
present study (Table 2). This indicates the contamina-
tion conditions in the school playgrounds are similar to
urban parks.
The mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in
different land use areas in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon
and the New Territories are shown in Fig. 2. In Hong
Kong Island, high metal concentrations in urban soils
occur in the commercial areas and to a less extent the resi-
dential area. This reflects the nature of land use in Hong
Kong Island that most of commercial areas are located in
the old urban districts along the northern coastal line of
the island. There is a similar trend in the urban soils in
Kowloon where the commercial areas have the highest
heavy metal concentrations reflecting the long history
of land use in the traditional urban districts of Kow-
loon. However, in the new development areas of the
New Territories, the industrial areas dominate the high
metal concentrations in park soils. This trend may

Table 2
Comparison of mean concentrations (mg/kg) of heavy metals
in urban soils

Londona Glasgowb Urban playgrounds This study

in Hong Kongc

Cd 1.0 0.53 1.89 2.181.02

Cu 73 97 27.5 24.812.0
Pb 294 216 100 93.437.3
Zn 183 207 93.9 16874.8
a
Thornton (1991).
b
Gibson and Farmer (1986). Fig. 2. The mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in
c
Wong et al. (1996). urban park soils in 3 geographic areas of Hong Kong.
 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368 1365

Table 3 general, the street dusts have higher concentrations of

Heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg) in street dusts in Hong the four metals studied than the urban park soils.
Kong Compared with metal contents in the road dusts in a
This study Previous studya Londonb
similar study in London (Thornton, 1991), the con-
centrations of Cd, Cu and Pb were lower, particularly Pb.
Mean Geometric Standard Mean Mean However, the mean concentration of Zn in the street dusts
mean deviation in Hong Kong was more than three times higher than that
in London. As Zn is used as a vulcanization agent in
Cd 3.77 3.61 2.25 7.6 4.2
Cu 173 126 190 635 115 vehicle tyres (Alloway, 1990), the higher wearing rate at
Pb 181 160 92.9 1287 1354 the high temperature subtropical area in Hong Kong may
Zn 1450 1170 869 2902 513 contribute to the high Zn content in the street dusts.
When comparing with a previous survey (Yim and
a
Yim and Nau (1987). Nau, 1987), the heavy metal concentrations in road
b
Thornton (1991). dusts in this study are significantly lower, particularly
Pb (Table 3). This trend may reflect the effects of the
introduction of lead free petrol and the reduction of
industrial activities in Hong Kong over the last 20 years.

3.3. Chemical partitioning of heavy metals in soils and

street dusts

The general chemical partitioning patterns of Cd, Cu,

Pb and Zn in the road dusts and the soils from the
sequential chemical extraction results are shown in
Fig. 4. The results are usually described in terms of the
percentage distribution within each fraction. Although
the chemical partitioning patterns showed some varia-
bility among the individual soil and dust samples, the
averaged partitioning patterns can indicate several clear
trends between the road dusts and the urban soils.

Lead

The lead in the road dusts is strongly associated with

Fig. 3. The relationships between the Cu, Pb and Zn con-
centrations in urban soils and the opening dates of the parks.
3.2. Heavy metal concentrations in street dusts
the carbonate and Fe–Mn oxide phases (ca. 70%) with
small amounts in the residual and organic/sulphide frac-
tions. The percentage of exchangeable Pb is very low in
road dusts. The results for urban park soils are similar,
but with less association with the carbonate phase and a
higher percentage with the residual fraction. These
results are in broad agreement with some previous stu-
dies in other urban areas (Harrison et al., 1981; Gibson
and Farmer, 1986). The Ca concentrations in the road
dusts are about 5 times higher than that in the soil
samples, and about 60–70% of the total Ca are asso-
ciated with the carbonate phases (Li et al., 1997). These
results indicate the strong influence of the carbonate
phase on heavy metal chemical forms in the road dusts
as calcite (CaCO3) is one of the major minerals in the
street dusts derived from road surface materials (Harri-
son et al, 1981).

The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in street Zinc

dusts sampled are listed in Table 3. Roadside dusts can
indicate the short-term contamination released from More than 60% of Zn in the road dusts are associated
vehicle exhaust emission and component wearing. In with the carbonate fraction while another 30% of Zn
1366 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368
Fig. 4. The mean chemical partitioning of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn among various fractions in street dusts and urban park soils in Hong
Kong.
are related to the Fe–Mn oxide phase. There is very little
Zn in the other three chemical phases in the road dusts.
In soils, the predominant fraction for Zn is the Fe–Mn
oxide phase (ca. 40%). The next important fractions are
the residual and the carbonate, at 25 and 18%, respec-
tively. Similar to Pb, the carbonate phase is also the
most important phase for Zn in the road dusts reflecting
the influence of calcite in the dust samples. The very high
concentration of Zn in the relatively active carbonate
phase indicates the high mobility of Zn in the road
dusts. Rain and storm water may wash the soluble Zn
away into the nearby harbour area through the drainage
system. The environmental implication of high Zn con-
tent in road dusts may need further assessment.
Cadmium
Most Cd in road dusts is concentrated in the first 3
phases with the carbonate as the most important phase.
The organic/sulphide fraction accounts for about 15%
of Cd in road dusts. In soils, the first 3 fractions contain
over 95% of Cd, and more than 50% of Cd in soils is
within the exchangeable phase. The exchangeable Cd
concentrations are in the range of 0.6–1.6 mg/kg, which
may need further study to investigate its bioavailability
and ecological implications.
Copper
The chemical association of Cu within the street dusts
is dominated by the organic/sulphide phase (ca. 70%),
with the carbonate, Fe–Mn oxide and residual phases
being of secondary importance. In soils, the organic/
sulphide phase still dominates (ca. 40%), and the asso-
ciations with the Fe–Mn oxide and residual phases are
significantly enhanced. As Cu is closely associated with
organic/sulphide, there is little influence of the carbon-
ate phase for Cu in road dusts in comparison with Zn
and Pb.
It has been suggested that the mobility and bioavail-
ability of metals decrease approximately in the order of
the extraction sequence, from readily available to una-
vailable, because the strength of extraction reagents
used increases in this order (Tessier et al., 1979; Harri-
son et al., 1981). The exchangeable fraction may indi-
cate the form in which metals are most available for
 X. Li et al. / Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1361–1368
plant uptake. The second step extracts metals bound to
the carbonate and specifically adsorbed phases, which
can become easily mobile and available under condi-
tions of lower soil pH. Metals bound to the oxide and
organic/sulphide fractions are generally more strongly
held within the soil constituents than the first 2 frac-
tions. The residual phase usually represents metals
incorporated in the lattice of minerals, which are una-
vailable to plants and animals.
Considering the first 2 extraction steps, the exchange-
able and carbonate/specific adsorbed phases, the relative
mobility and bioavailability of the heavy metals in street
dusts and soils probably decrease in the following order:
Cd > Zn > Pb > Cu. The mobility of these metals is
usually higher in the street dusts than that in the urban
soils. This is probably due to the high calcite content
and physical characteristics (e.g. larger grain size) of the
road dusts. The high concentration of Zn (1450 mg/kg)
and its close association with the carbonate phase (64%
of total Zn) in road dusts need further studies for its
environmental implication to the surrounding areas. It
is also noted that the relatively high concentrations of
Cd (1.1 mg/kg) in the exchangeable phase in the urban
soils are above the target (‘‘T’’ level) Cd total con-
centration of the Dutch Soil Standard (1 mg/kg). The
application of phosphate fertilizers to urban park soils
and the plant uptake of Cd may need further investiga-
tion.
4. Conclusions
Soils in urban parks in Hong Kong have elevated
concentrations of a number of heavy metals, including
Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The accumulation of Cd and Pb in
the top soils is particularly obvious in the urban parks
compared with the country parks. The concentrations of
Pb, Zn and Cu in urban soils are generally lower than
those in old industrial cities in the UK. However, Cd
content in Hong Kong urban soils is higher, probably
due to the frequent application of Cd containing phos-
phatic fertilizers to the soils. The heavy metal con-
tamination in urban soils is most significant in the central
commercial areas, like the north part of Hong Kong
Island and the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsular,
and the new industrial areas of the New Territories. In
general metal concentrations in the street dusts are higher
than those in the urban soils. There is a trend of decreas-
ing heavy metal concentrations in street dusts when
compared with previous survey results. The street dusts
have highly elevated Zn concentration, particularly
along the main trunk roads, which may come from the
traffic sources, especially the vehicle tyres. The chemical
partitioning results show that Pb and Zn are mainly in
the carbonate/specific adsorbed phase and the Fe–Mn
oxide phase, while Cu is largely associated with the
1367
organic and sulphide fractions. The exchangeable Cd in
soils is relative high compared with other metals. More
than 60% of total Zn in road dusts is in the relatively
mobile carbonate forms. Their ecological and health
implications need further detailed investigations.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Hong Kong Poly-
technic University through the Area of Strategic Devel-
opment programme. The authors gratefully acknowledge
Professor I. Thornton, Dr. M. Ramsey and Mr. B.
Coles of Imperial College, London for their advice and
help on the sequential extraction analysis of the soil and
dust samples. We wish to thank Rachael Chan for her
sampling and analytical work at the early stage of the
project.
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