xides may cause the loss of Cd and Co through leaching and percolation, resulting in low Cd and Co concentrations of the paddy soils. The chemical partitioning patterns of Pb, Zn and Cu indicated that Pbwas largely associated with the Fe-Mn oxide and residual fractions, while Zn was predominantly found in the residual phase. A significant percent fraction of Cu was bound in the organic/sulphide and residual phases. Based on the 206Pb/207Pbratios of the five fractions, it was evident that some of the soils were enriched with anthropogenic Pb, such as industrial and automobile Pb. The strong associations between anthropogenic Pb and the Fe–Mn oxide and organic/sulphide phases suggested that anthropogenic Pbwas relatively stable after deposition in soils.