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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Annual Characteristics, Source Analysis,
and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals
in PM1 from a Low-Latitude, High-Altitude
City: A Case Study of Kunming City
1
School of Earth Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650500, China
2
Xichang University, Xichang 615013, China
3
School of Ecology and Environment, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Submission date: 2025-12-07
Final revision date: 2026-02-19
Acceptance date: 2026-03-03
Online publication date: 2026-05-29
Corresponding author
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
PM1 samples were collected in Kunming City over a period of one year. The concentrations of
HMs were analyzed using ICP-MS. EF, PCA, and health risk models were employed to evaluate the
pollution level, sources, and carcinogenic risks. The results showed distinct seasonal variations in
PM1 mass concentration, with the highest level in winter (40.35±9.16 μg·m-3), the lowest in summer
(20.10±4.55 μg·m-3), and the annual mean was 30.44±10.33 μg·m-3. Among the seven HMs analyzed, Ti,
Zn, Pb, and Ni exhibited relatively higher concentrations. The EF values were ranked as Cd (182.28) > Pb
(39.62) > Ni (30.29) > Zn (18.56) > Cr (10.21), indicating that these metals are significantly influenced by
anthropogenic activities. PCA further identified three major sources of PM1: industrial and traffic mixed
sources, manufacturing emissions, and natural sources. Health risk assessment results indicated that
the carcinogenic risk values of Cr(Ⅵ) for adults and children were 1.19×10-4 and 2.38×10-5, respectively.
They surpassed the acceptable safety threshold (1×10-6) and require continuous monitoring. Meanwhile,
the risk value for adult exposure to Ni is 4.13×10-6, which also requires consideration.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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