The source apportionment of pollutants is the key to preventing and controlling the pollution caused by heavy metals in soils. The aim of this study was to investigate the main sources of heavy metals in the soils of black shale areas in western Zhejiang, China. Based on geostatistical spatial analysis, this research employed positive matrix factorization (PMF) for the source apportionment of heavy metals in paddy soil. The results showed that contaminated arable soils were concentrated in the western and southern study areas. At least five major sources of heavy metals were screened in this study: natural sources (39.66%), traffic emissions (32.85%), industrial emissions (9.23%), agricultural activities (9.17%), and mining (9.10%). To be specific, Cd was mainly from mining; As originated from agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides; and Hg, as an industrial pollutant, was transported by atmospheric deposition in the study area. The accumulation of Pb, Zn, and Cu was mainly influenced by natural sources and anthropogenic sources, i.e., traffic emissions, while that of Cr and Ni was controlled by natural sources.

Newly discovered theropod footprints are described from collapsed rock blocks derived from the Lower Cretaceous Guantou Formation at the Shangantian tracksite in Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, eastern China. The specimens are preserved in at least 18 natural molds on a single siltstone slab. The footprint assemblage is composed of minute-sized tridactyl tracks with lengths ranging between 6.8 cm and 8.8 cm. Morphologically, these tracks exhibit a relatively wide divarication angle between digits II and IV, a low length/width ratio, weak mesaxony, and a prominent, elongate metatarsophalangeal pad associated with digit IV aligned along the long axis of digit III. Based on these diagnostic traits, the new tracks are tentatively assigned to Jialingpus isp. The reduced mesaxony and incomplete expression of the medial metatarsophalangeal area behind digit II represent morphometric and preservation-driven variations characteristic of Cretaceous Jialingpus material. Kinematic estimates from three distinct single-step trackways indicate that the trackmakers were moving at slow walking speeds of 0.4–0.8 m/s (1.4–2.9 km/h). This discovery enriches the mid-Cretaceous dinosaur track diversity in Zhejiang Province and provides important ichnological insights into the evolution and morphometric variation of Jialingpus across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary.