Urban soils, especially contaminated sites and its surrounding area, are strongly influenced by anthropogenic contamination, such as industrial waste, which affects the quality of the environment and human health. The sources, distribution and transport of pollutants in soils of industrial zones are important information in order to evaluate the soil quality in industrial districts and represent the key facts for a successful restoration and management of contaminated sites.

The isotopic composition of organic matter in soils can be used to distinct wet and dry deposition, human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion) or plant residues.

Organic carbon abundances and stable carbon isotopes of certain soil profiles from an industrial site in Beijing and its surrounding area as well as from a Beijing suburb were investigated.

The results reveal that the concentrations of organic carbon in soil and its carbon isotopic  compositions can be used for tracing the sources of organic matter in soils of industrial and non-industrial areas , and, hence, for the assessment of soil quality.  Thus, stable carbon isotopes represent a valuable tool in order to detect environmental pollution by human activities.

The study was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The research result has been published in the journal of Environmental pollution(Guo, Q., Strauss, H., Chen, T., et al., 2013. Tracing the source of Beijing soil organic carbon: a carbon isotope approach. Environmental Pollution 176, 208-214).