Abstract:It is crucial to explore the characteristics of heavy metals in atmospheric deposition in different functional areas and to evaluate the pollution for understanding the influences of atmospheric deposition on heavy metal accumulation in soil. Samples of atmospheric deposition were collected monthly from the residential, educational, commercial, suburban, transportation and industrial-residential areas and the fluxes of atmospheric deposition were calculated and the contents of Cr, Ni, Cd and Pb were measured. The results showed that the average flux of atmospheric deposition was the highest in industrial-residential area but the lowest in the educational areas. The atmospheric deposition in the 6 functional areas were lower in autumn. There were differences in the average contents of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in the atmospheric deposition between different functional areas. The average concentrations of the four heavy metals in the atmospheric deposition were 2.14 mg/kg for Cd, 66.36 mg/kg for Cr, 27.69 mg/kg for Ni, and 98.33 mg/kg for Pb, respectively. The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in the atmospheric deposition in the 6 functional areas were generally higher in winter. The geoaccumulation indexes indicated that Cd pollution was most serious in the atmospheric deposition. It is forecasted that the concentrations of the four heavy metals in soil of Chongqing will remain below the 2nd grade of Soil Environmental Quality Standard after 100 a accumulation from the atmospheric deposition, among of which, Cd will increase the fastest, followed by Pb and Cr, but Ni will decrease gradually.