%0 Journal Article %A FANG Shubo %A JIA Xiaobo %A AN Shuqing %A ZHENG Zheng %T The Priority Pattern for Managing the Potential Ecological Risks Associated with Heavy Metals of the Top Soil on Yancheng Coast %D 2012 %R 10.11821/xb201201003 %J Acta Geographica Sinica %P 27-35 %V 67 %N 1 %X The spatial geostatistical characteristics of the 5 heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd) of the top 106 soil samples on Yancheng coast, were studied with the aid of GS+ software. With ARCGIS 9.2, the Hakanson risks index (HRI), which was a synthetic reflection of the potential ecological risks of heavy metals, was interpolated. A computational approach, including NDVI, determining Euclidean Distance to the main anthropogenic impact sources, and land use reclassification, was proposed to detect the ecological hotspots, with clarification of different levels of potential ecological risks through integrating the Hakanson index computing. The conclusions can be drawn as follows. Metals (Cr, Cu and Cd) had strong spatial autocorrelations, while Ni had modest spatial autocorrelations, and the spatial autocorrelation of Zn could not be modeled. Through the semivariogram functions analysis, the exponential model could best model the spatial autocorrelations of Cr and Ni, while spherical model could best model Cu and Cd. There was a high heterogeneity of HRI, and areas including the Dafeng Natural Reserve areas, near the Liangduo River Gate, the areas between Dafeng Habour and Simaoyou Gate, and areas north to the Sheyang Habour, had a relatively low HRI, while areas including areas neighboring Sheyang Habour and Sheyang Salt Field had a high HRI. The priority ecological hotspots with medium and low heavy metal ecological risks were finally proposed. %U https://www.geog.com.cn/EN/10.11821/xb201201003