Characteristics and Sources of Heavy Metal Pollution in Cropland near a Typical Lead–Zinc Processing Plant in Xieping Village, Hui County, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study describes the features and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland close to a lead and zinc processing facility (Xieping Village, Hui County, China). Overall, the review is technically sound; however, there are a few questions and remarks that need explanation.

 

“The cropland contaminated by heavy metals in Tianheba was distributed around the mineral processing plant and canal infiltration area, i.e., mineral processing and smelting and wastewater discharges are the main causes.” (Lines 23-25)

I think that the authors misidentified the sources of contamination at the research location. Analysis of figures 2 and 3 reveals that only a tiny portion of the site immediately surrounding the facility («lower right» corner of the site) is contaminated by this plant (Xie Ping Mineral Plant). A typical plume of harmful substances dispersed into the atmosphere represents the site's main area of contamination. This is the area where particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM5, PM10) is deposited, and Liulinzhen and Wenjiaping are the cities to the west of the location where pollution originates and emissions come from. As opposed to east of the site, where the lead and zinc processing factory is located (Xie Ping Mineral Plant), the pollution source is west of the site. The character of the spread of pollution at the site cannot be explained by horizontal metal migration because of infiltration from drainage channels (particularly in topsoil).

 

Please provide a schematic of the drainage channels. The location of drainage channels in the research region, where wastewater from the plant enters, cannot currently be determined; hence, inferences concerning their influence on the pollution of the site are dubious.

 

Why were the metal contents only tested in the top 0–20 cm of soil? Metal concentrations and their migration in the soil are strongly influenced by the soil texture.

 

The amount of organic matter (SOM) and soil acidity were determined by the authors. Only a few lines of the article include the findings of this research. Please provide a graphical representation of the distribution of organic matter and soil acidity throughout the site (as shown in Figure 2 for the distribution of metals throughout the site).

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

On behalf of all authors,  I would like to sincerely thank you for your review and your constructive comments on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland near a typical lead-zinc processing plant in Xieping Village of Hui County, China" (land-2612853), and express my sincere gratitude for your comments and the reviewers’ constructive comments. These comments are valuable and help us improve our articles. The diagrams in this article do have some flaws, so the figures in them were overall revised during the revision process, and the description and spatial distribution of pH and SOM were added in the spatial analysis section. We also respond to all comments listed below.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

My comments are in attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Long sentences should be divided for higher clarity.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

On behalf of all the contributing authors, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your letter and your constructive comments on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland near a typical lead–zinc processing plant in Xieping Village of Hui County, China" (land-2612853), I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your letter and the reviewers' constructive comments. These comments were valuable and helped us to improve our article, thank you very much for your affirmation. This article used the language editing services, so some sentences had undergone significant modifications, we have also replied to all comments listed below one by one.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

The manuscript was written in an unprofessional manner. All parts of it need comprehensive review and reorganization. The English language in which the manuscript was written suffers from major problems in grammar and punctuation, which requires a comprehensive rewriting of the entire text of the manuscript. Material and methods suffer from great shortages and extreme ambiguity.

Please read the notes attached to the text and revise the research accordingly.

Good luck.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Extensive editing of English language required.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

On behalf of all the contributing authors, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your letter and your constructive comments on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland near a typical lead–zinc processing plant in Xieping Village of Hui County, China" (land-2612853), I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your letter and the reviewers' constructive comments. These comments were valuable and helped us to improve our article. This paper did lack a lot in content, graphs, and text. With your comments, we have revised the conclusion in the abstract section, the study area overview map, and the overall English language editing throughout the text. Meanwhile, we have also replied to all comments listed below one by one.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

The paper presents  work of one of the most important research fields. However, revisions  are required to  improve the quality of the manuscript :

- Revise the key words 

- Improve introduction by adding more relevent references 

- Reformulate and improve the result and the discussion part

- verify the figures 

minor revisions 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

On behalf of all the contributing authors, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your letter and your constructive comments on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland near a typical lead–zinc processing plant in Xieping Village of Hui County, China" (land-2612853), I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for your letter and the reviewers' constructive comments. These comments were valuable and helped us to improve our article. This article has been extensively revised and the text has been edited for English language. We have also replied to all comments listed below one by one.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has been carefully revised, reached the publishing level and can be accepted at this state.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

On behalf of all the authors, I would like to sincerely thank you for your comments and constructive suggestions on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in farmland near a typical lead-zinc processing plant in Xieping Village, Hui County, China" (land-2612853) and sincerely thank you comments and reviewers’ constructive comments. Thank you very much for your affirmation and good luck.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

Thank you for your efforts to improve and revise the manuscript, however, it still needs few required corrections and improvements.

Thank you and good luck.

     

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Moderate editing of English language required.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

On behalf of all authors,  I would like to sincerely thank you for your review and your constructive comments on our article entitled "Characteristics and sources of heavy metal pollution in cropland near a typical lead-zinc processing plant in Xieping Village of Hui County, China" (land-2612853), and express my sincere gratitude for your comments and the reviewers’ constructive comments. These comments are valuable and help us improve our articles. Based on your comments, we have revised and improved this article. We also respond to all comments listed below.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx