Pollution Source and Soil Quality Assessments of Heavily Contaminated Soils by Selected Potentially Toxic Elements in a Human-Degraded Wetland Area

Wetlands are transitional between terrestrial and aquatic environments and have essential ecological functions. Unfortunately, due to anthropogenic activities and climate change, the area covered by wetlands is gradually decreasing worldwide, causing deterioration and loss of their critical and vital ecological functions. One of these degraded wetlands is the Hürmetçi Sazlığı, a nationally important wetland located in the Kayseri Province of Turkey. This study aims to determine the spatial and vertical (depth profile) distribution and the sources of the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) As, Cd, Pb, and Zn in the soils around the Hürmetçi Sazlığı Wetland (HSW) and to evaluate environmental risk factors using various soil quality indicators. According to the results obtained, it was determined that some parts of the wetland soils were significantly polluted in terms of As, Cd, Pb, and Zn. The concentrations (in mg/kg) of these PTEs in the soil around the wetland ranged between 9.12 and 273.9 for As, 0.38 and 1119.46 for Cd, 3.59 and 1807.66 for Pb, and 41.68 and 77,287.5 for Zn. Several soil quality indicators, including the Enrichment Factor (EF), Contamination Factor (CF), Ecological Risk Index (ERI), and Potential Ecological Risk Index (RI), were calculated to determine the quality and pollution levels of the collected soil samples. According to the calculated RI values, 70 out of 77 sites sampled in the area around the HSW are in the “High Risk” class in terms of all studied PTEs. The soil profile samples indicated that the topsoil (0–50 cm) was heavily contaminated by all PTEs, particularly near a zinc processing plant established in 1976. In addition, parts of the wetland further away from the Zn processing plant were also affected by arsenic pollution from geogenic sources, which can be associated with Plio-Quaternary volcanic activity in the region.