{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,24]],"date-time":"2026-03-24T17:03:32Z","timestamp":1774371812520,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,2]],"date-time":"2021-05-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1619913600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Science and Technology Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region","award":["2020ZD0020-3"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020ZD0020-3"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Heavy metal pollution is a major environmental problem facing humankind. Locating the source and distribution of heavy metal pollutants around mines can provide a scientific basis for environmental control. The structure effect and random effect of a semivariogram can be used to determine the reason for spatial differences in the heavy metal content in surface soil, and the coefficient of variation and regression analysis can be used to confirm that the verification accuracy meets the geostatistical requirements. According to the maximum difference method, the content of heavy metals in the surface soil of the mining area is higher than that of the surroundings, and Cu and Zn levels are higher than the background values for Inner Mongolia. In the present case, Zn, Mn, Pb, Cr, Ni, and Cu levels exceeded the background values for the surroundings of the study area by 65.10%, 53.72%, 52.17%, 46.24%, 33.08%, and 29.49%, respectively. The results show that human activities play a decisive role in the spatial distribution of heavy metals, leading to their spatial distribution in the form of \u201ccore periphery\u201d. This distribution pattern was significantly affected by the slope, NDVI value, and the distance from the mining area, but the spatial distribution of Pb was significantly related to high-grade roads. The research methods and conclusions have reference significance for the sources and spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metal pollution in similar mining areas and provide a target for the prevention and control of environmental pollution in the study area.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi10050290","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,2]],"date-time":"2021-05-02T08:05:21Z","timestamp":1619942721000},"page":"290","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Spatial Distribution Characteristics of Heavy Metals in Surface Soil of Xilinguole Coal Mining Area Based on Semivariogram"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9910-0946","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guoqing","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010011, China"}]},{"given":"Yong","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, Hohhot 010011, China"},{"name":"Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Grassland Survey and Planning Institute, Hohhot 010020, China"}]},{"given":"Xinyao","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, Hohhot 010011, China"}]},{"given":"Mingjiu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agriculture University, Hohhot 010011, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gruszecka-Kosowska, A. (2019). Human Health Risk Assessment and Potentially Harmful Element Contents in the Fruits Cultivated in the Southern Poland. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 16.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16245096"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nyssen, J., Jacob, M., and Frankl, A. (2019). Part V Geomorphic Processes\/Sediment Yield and Reservoir Siltation in Tigray. Geo-Trekking in Ethiopia\u2019s Tropical Mountains, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-04955-3"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"523","DOI":"10.1007\/s10661-015-4734-9","article-title":"Assessment of metal pollution in a former mining area in the NW Tunisia: Spatial distribution and fraction of Cd, Pb and Zn in soil","volume":"187","author":"Othmani","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Monit. Assess."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Santos-Frances, F., Martinez-Grana, A., Zarza, C.A., Sanchez, A.G., and Rojo, P.A. (2017). Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals and the Environmental Quality of Soil in the Northern Plateau of Spain by Geostatistical Methods. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph14060568"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Park, J., Kwon, E., Chung, E., Kim, H., Battogtokh, B., and Woo, N.C. (2019). Environmental Sustainability of Open-Pit Coal Mining Practices at Baganuur, Mongolia. Sustainability, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/su12010248"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1007\/s10661-018-7164-7","article-title":"Topsoil and urban dust pollution and toxicity in Taranto (southern Italy) industrial area and in a residential district","volume":"191","author":"Trifuoggi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Monit. Assess."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"820","article-title":"Long-term ongoing impact of arsenic contamination on the environmental compartments of a former mining-metallurgy area","volume":"610\u2013611","author":"Boente","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"883","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1011.2013.00883","article-title":"Distribution characteristics of soil heavy metal content in northern slope of Tianshan Mountains and its source explanation","volume":"21","author":"Muyessar","year":"2013","journal-title":"Chin. J. Eco-Agric."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1080\/01490459309377958","article-title":"Heavy metals in the soils of Tallinn (Estonia) and its suburbs","volume":"11","author":"Bityukova","year":"1993","journal-title":"Geomicrobiol. J."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deckers, S., Tielens, S., Geyndt, K.D., Wauw, J.V.d., and Nyssen, J. (2019). Part I Setting the Scene\/24 Understanding soil spatial patterns for sustainable development. Geo-Trekking in Ethiopia\u2019s Tropical Mountains, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-04955-3_24"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dolezalova Weissmannova, H., Mihocova, S., Chovanec, P., and Pavlovsky, J. (2019). Potential Ecological Risk and Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in Industrial Affected Soils by Coal Mining and Metallurgy in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 16.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16224495"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gabarr\u00f3n, M., Faz, A., and Acosta, J.A. (2017). Effect of different industrial activities on heavy metal concentrations and chemical distribution in topsoil and road dust. Environ. Earth Sci., 76.","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-017-6449-4"},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"518","article-title":"GIS modelling of earthquake damage zones using satellite remote sensing and DEM data","volume":"139","author":"Jian","year":"2012","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boluwade, A. (2020). Joint Simulation of Spatially Correlated Soil Health Indicators, Using Independent Component Analysis and Minimum\/Maximum Autocorrelation Factors. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi9010030"},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"259","article-title":"Spatial distribution analysis of heavy metals in soil and atmospheric dust fall and their relationships in Xinjiang Eastern Junggar mining area","volume":"33","author":"Aerzuna","year":"2017","journal-title":"Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Santos-Frances, F., Martinez-Grana, A., Alonso Rojo, P., and Garcia Sanchez, A. (2017). Geochemical Background and Baseline Values Determination and Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metal Pollution in Soils of the Andes Mountain Range (Cajamarca-Huancavelica, Peru). Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph14080859"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tezel, D., Inam, S., and Kocaman, S. (2020). GIS-Based Assessment of Habitat Networks for Conservation Planning in Kas-Kekova Protected Area (Turkey). ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi9020091"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Plyatsuk, L., Balintova, M., Chernysh, Y., Demcak, S., Holub, M., and Yakhnenko, E. (2019). Influence of Phosphogypsum Dump on the Soil Ecosystem in the Sumy region (Ukraine). Appl. Sci., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/app9245559"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zwolak, A., Sarzy\u0144ska, M., Szpyrka, E., and Stawarczyk, K. (2019). Sources of Soil Pollution by Heavy Metals and Their Accumulation in Vegetables: A Review. Water Air Soil Pollut., 230.","DOI":"10.1007\/s11270-019-4221-y"},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"348","article-title":"Study on Heavy Metal Cu based on Hyperspectral Remote Sensing","volume":"26","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Technol. Appl."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Edokpayi, J., Odiyo, J., Popoola, O., and Msagati, T. (2016). Assessment of Trace Metals Contamination of Surface Water and Sediment: A Case Study of Mvudi River, South Africa. Sustainability, 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/su8020135"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gozdowski, D., Stpie\u0144, M., Panek, E., Varghese, J., and Samborski, S. (2020). Comparison of winter wheat NDVI data derived from Landsat 8 and active optical sensor at field scale. Remote Sens. Appl. Soc. Environ., 20.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rsase.2020.100409"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1246","DOI":"10.2113\/gsecongeo.58.8.1246","article-title":"Principle of Geostatistics","volume":"58","author":"Matheron","year":"1963","journal-title":"Econ. Geol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"82054","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2020.2991428","article-title":"Minimax Approach for Semivariogram Fitting in Ordinary Kriging","volume":"8","author":"Setiyoko","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Moonchai, S., and Chutsagulprom, N. (2020). Semiparametric Semivariogram Modeling with a Scaling Criterion for Node Spacing: A Case Study of Solar Radiation Distribution in Thailand. Mathematics, 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/math8122173"},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"e00110","article-title":"Gaussian process simulation of soil Zn micronutrient spatial heterogeneity and uncertainty\u2013A performance appraisal of three semivariogram models","volume":"5","author":"Eze","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci. Afr."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125096","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhydrol.2020.125096","article-title":"The impact of groundwater depth on the spatial variance of vegetation index in the Ordos Plateau, China: A semivariogram analysis","volume":"588","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mir\u00e1s-Avalos, J.M., Fandi\u00f1o, M., Rey, B.J., Dafonte, J., and Cancela, J.J. (2020). Zoning of a Newly-Planted Vineyard: Spatial Variability of Physico-Chemical Soil Properties. Soil Syst., 4.","DOI":"10.3390\/soilsystems4040062"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Liu, X., Zhang, Y., and Li, P. (2020). Spatial Variation Characteristics of Soil Erodibility in the Yingwugou Watershed of the Middle Dan River, China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17103568"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"695","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-011-1511-0","article-title":"Heavy metal concentrations in sultana-cultivation soils and sultana raisins from Manisa (Turkey)","volume":"67","author":"Colak","year":"2012","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ahmad, N., Hussain, J., Ahmad, I., and Asif, M. (2020). Estimation of health risk to humans from heavy metals in soil of coal mines in Harnai, Balochistan. Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem., 1\u201312.","DOI":"10.1080\/03067319.2020.1776863"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1080","DOI":"10.1007\/s12517-020-06062-7","article-title":"Predictive modeling and comparative evaluation of geostatistical models for geochemical exploration through stream sediments","volume":"13","author":"Mahboob","year":"2020","journal-title":"Arab. J. Geosci."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"415","DOI":"10.1016\/j.asr.2019.04.020","article-title":"Characteristic of modelling spatial processes using geostatistical analysis","volume":"64","year":"2019","journal-title":"Adv. Space Res."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106254","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agwat.2020.106254","article-title":"Water modelling approaches and opportunities to simulate spatial water variations at crop field level","volume":"240","author":"Tenreiro","year":"2020","journal-title":"Agric. Water Manag."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bei, Z., and Yong, Y. (2017). Spatiotemporal modeling and prediction of soil heavy metals based on spatiotemporal cokriging. Sci. Rep., 7.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-017-17018-5"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.15835\/nsb244997","article-title":"Evaluation of Geostatistical Techniques for Mapping Spatial Distribution of Soil PH, Salinity and Plant Cover Affected by Environmental Factors in Southern Iran","volume":"2","author":"Mohammad","year":"2010","journal-title":"Not. Sci. Biol."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Li, Q., Pei, J., Zhang, J., and Han, B. (2019, January 3\u20137). SUM: Suboptimal Unitary Multi-Task Learning Framework for Spatiotemporal Data Prediction. Proceedings of the CIKM 2019\u201428th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, Beijing, China."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yang, B., Liu, H., Kang, E.L., Shu, S., and Yu, B. (2020). Spatio-temporal Cokriging method for assimilating and downscaling multi-scale remote sensing data. Remote Sens. Environ., 255.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2020.112190"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"860","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2014.10.022","article-title":"Spatiotemporal analysis of olive flowering using geostatistical techniques","volume":"505","author":"Rojo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lamb, D.S., Downs, J., and Reader, S. (2020). Space-Time Hierarchical Clustering for Identifying Clusters in Spatiotemporal Point Data. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi9020085"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"437","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envpol.2017.08.042","article-title":"History of heavy metal accumulation in the Svalbard area: Distribution, origin and transport pathways","volume":"231","author":"Zaborska","year":"2017","journal-title":"Environ. Pollut."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7625","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-017-1094-8","article-title":"Heavy metal enrichment in roadside soils in the eastern Tibetan Plateau","volume":"25","author":"Guan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"280","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2016.05.042","article-title":"Reduction of spatial distribution of risk factors for transportation of contaminants released by coal mining activities","volume":"180","author":"Karan","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1002\/(SICI)1522-2624(199908)162:4<421::AID-JPLN421>3.0.CO;2-N","article-title":"Spatial distribution of soil heavy metal concentrations as indicator of pollution sources at Mount Kri\u017ena (Great Fatra, central Slovakia)","volume":"162","author":"Schwarz","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zeng, S., Ma, J., Ren, Y., Liu, G.J., Zhang, Q., and Chen, F. (2019). Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Soil PAHs and their Relationship with Anthropogenic Activities at a National Scale. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 16.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16244928"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5163","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph10105163","article-title":"Study on association between spatial distribution of metal mines and disease mortality: A case study in Suxian District, South China","volume":"10","author":"Song","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health"}],"container-title":["ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/10\/5\/290\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:56:43Z","timestamp":1760162203000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/10\/5\/290"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,2]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5]]}},"alternative-id":["ijgi10050290"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijgi10050290","relation":{},"ISSN":["2220-9964"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2220-9964","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,2]]}}}