Abstract:

Soil environmental criteria are the basis of soil environmental quality standard, and can be used to evaluate environmental risks. In this study, the environmental criteria were classified and the research status of soil environmental criteria at home and abroad in recent 25 years was reviewed. This paper summarized the differences in the derivation of soil environmental criteria in different countries, and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used in developing soil environmental criteria in some areas of China. It is found that: most of the criteria are derived from the sensitivity of soil plants and soil animals to heavy metals, or by collecting a large number of soil background values; the criteria still have deficiencies compared with foreign criteria, such as no uniform criteria method, unclear protection targets, and incomplete types of ecological receptors considered in the development. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen soil diversity research in different regions, standardize criteria developing methods and further improve the toxicology database so as to provide references for the revision of soil environmental quality standard.

Key words: environmental criteria, soil pollution, species sensitivity distribution, heavy metal, risk assessment, soil environmental quality standard