Purpose: Trace element pollution in soil has become an increasingly common issue and potentially harms the environment and human health. In this study, the contamination levels and ecological and health risk indices of trace elements in surface soils in Bai Cheng, Xin Jiang, were investigated in order to examine if the land usage changed from pasture to agriculture has influenced the behaviours of these trace elements.

Material and methods: In this study, descriptive analysis, normality test, the Tukey-HSD method and non-parametric methods were used to investigate the characteristics of trace elements. The geo-accumulation pollution and ecological risk indices were used to analyse the degree of contamination by trace elements. Correlation and principle analyses were used to identify the sources of trace elements and a health risk assessment was used to analyse human exposure to trace elements of the soil.

Results and discussion: Cadmium was the main pollutant in the 0–5 cm soil layer in both agricultural and pastoral areas. Thus, it contributed most to the Geo-Accumulation Index (Igeo) and the comprehensive potential ecological risk index (RI) of the surface soils. The levels of RI for the topsoil layer of agricultural areas fell into moderate to high (II-III) ecological risk categories, and those of pastoral areas belonged to low to moderate risk categories (I-II). Both values of Igeo and RI of the surface soils in agricultural areas were higher than in pastoral areas. The carcinogenic risk of Cr through hand-to-mouth intake and the total risk of trace elements in soils for humans were higher than the safety reference level. Chromium was the greatest contributor to total carcinogenic risk.

Conclusions: Trace element concentration levels in surface soils in pastoral areas were relevant to geochemical characteristics and atmospheric deposition, whereas trace element concentration levels in surface soils in agricultural areas were derived not only from geochemical characteristics but also from human activities. The change in land use from pasture to agriculture increased the trace element concentration level in surface soils. There were both ecological risks and human health implications for residents exposed to such contaminants of soils in the studied region.