Total and exchangeable concentrations of heavy metals in soils near Bytom, an area of Pb/Zn mining and smelting in Upper Silesia, Poland (original) (raw)
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Long-Term Metal-Content Changes in Soils on the Olkusz Zn–Pb Ore-Bearing Area, Poland
International Journal of Environmental Research
Long-term changes of As, Cd, Fe, Pb, Tl, Zn, Cl-, SO 4 2-, and PO 4 2contents were calculated in topsoil samples and soil profiles in the vicinity of the Zn-Pb mine and processing plant at Bukowno, Poland. Evaluations were based on research results obtained in 1994-2014. Soil was described on the basis of hand specimens for which the following were determined: active and potential pH, organic matter content, moisture content, buffer properties, total metal content (HCl?HNO 3 3:1), forms of binding metals (using the BCR sequential extraction procedure), metal bioavailability (extraction by the 0.05 M EDTA solution), and water leaching of metals. Soil contamination was determined by the contamination factor and the pollution load index. The potential environmental risk was determined by the risk assessment code (RAC). Twenty-year-long research demonstrated the trend of decreasing metal content in topsoil. The sampling sites, selected in close vicinity of the flotation tailings dump, showed increasing contents of As, Pb, and Cd. The metal content in soil profiles revealed a significant decrease with time. Metal bioavailability, tested in all soil samples, indicated that the exchangeable forms were carriers of mainly Cd (up to 83%), Zn (up to 72%), and Pb (up to 60%) (the proportions refer to total metal contents), whereas As, Fe, and Tl were bound either with hardly movable forms or remained in the extraction residuum. The RAC showed medium to high environmental risks in soils, caused by the presence of Cd, Zn, Pb, and Tl.
Heavy metal contamination of soils around a PbZn smelter in Bukowno, Poland
Applied Geochemistry, 1996
An exploratory study of the area surrounding a Pb-Zn smelting and mining centre in Bukowno. Poland, detected significant contamination by heavy metals. The median concentrations for field and garden topsoils (C-l 0 cm depth) were: Pb 545 pg/g, Zn 2 175 pg/g, Cd 14.8 pg/g and As 8 1 jig/g. Close to the smelter area, topsoil concentrations of Pb. Zn and Cd exceeded Dutch "C" and Polish "V" action levels indicating that remediation should be considered. In the nearby village, concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cd in garden topsoils generally exceeded Dutch "B" cutoff levels, indicating a need for further investigation.
Scientific Reports, 2022
Mining and smelting activities can contaminate soils and affect farming due to high emissions and input of potentially toxic elements (PTE) into the environment. Soils (sampled from two depths) and market vegetables from vegetable gardens located within the vicinity of unconfined slag deposits from decades of mining and smelting activities in Kutná Hora, Czechia were assessed to determine to what extent they pose a health hazard to communities that use these gardens. Pseudo-total As concentrations in the soils exceeded background levels (4.5 mg kg −1) 1.9-93 times, with higher concentrations in the deeper layer. The pseudo-total concentrations of PTE in soils ranked in the order As > Zn > Cd > Pb. Phyto-available concentrations of PTE in soils were relatively low, compared to pseudo-total concentrations. Concentration of As, Cd, Pb and Zn in the vegetables exceeded guideline values, with the highest concentrations found in the fruits of cucumber, peppers, and zucchini. Despite low phyto-available PTE concentrations in soils, all the PTE concentrations in the vegetables surpassed the guidelines set by the Czech Ministry of Health and EU directive, indicating a health hazard to consumers. The Czech town of Kutná Hora (KH) and its surrounding landscape represents one of the oldest and most significant Bohemian mining regions, dating back to the thirteenth century. At its peak, annual silver production stood at 5-6 tons 1,2. The town's intensive mining history is evident from the presence of a network of mineshafts, excavated overburden, and unconfined smelter slag deposits. Drahota et al. 3 studied the mine wastes, urban soils and road dust and confirmed that As was the main and the most important contaminant in urban soils (up to 2900 mg kg −1) followed by Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn. Ash et al. 4 studied the potentially toxic element (PTE) concentrations in soils at a slag deposit alongside the Vrchlice River in surrounding area of KH. Despite determining very high loadings of PTE in soil samples, phyto-available contents (using CaCl 2 and Mehlich extractions) were generally low, which concurs with findings of Száková et al. 5 and Tremlová et al. 6. Horák and Hejcman 7 used available data on PTE distributions in KH to group PTE based on their likely sources; those uninfluenced by mining activities (Be, Co, Cr, Hg, and V), originating from smelting processes (As, Cu, Pb and Zn), and originating from mining (As and Cd). Large-scale ore exploitation which begun in the early fifteenth century was due to the development of new smelting technology 2. This technology used some sulphides as additives for silver ore smelting, which contained small amounts of arsenopyrite (AsFeS), sphalerite (ZnS) and galena (PbS), with Ag in KH being bounded to arsenopyrite, and therefore being a source of As in the smelting processes. Moreover, some As minerals (alacránite (As 8 S 9), allargentum (Ag1-xSb x) and arsenopyrite) also enter the smelting process 8. Thus, the smelting activities became a massive source of contamination for the entire surroundings 3,4,8. Now covered by forest, there are numerous sinkholes from mineshaft collapse, and past excavations shape the landscape here. Slag fragments from the smelting litter the region, as it was either dumped to form unconfined heaps, or used in road construction, and even applied to fields as a primitive fertilizer (source of Ca and Mg). Unconfined heaps that were rich in arsenopyrite and Fe-sulphides were left for almost 500 years, leaving them exposed to weathering, breaking the sulphide into weathered As-, Fe-, and S-rich waste materials 8 .
Inconspicuous waste heaps left by historical Zn–Pb mining are hot spots of soil contamination
Geoderma, 2014
This study discovers and surveys sites left by former Zn-Pb mining in western Małopolska (S Poland), focusing on old heaps of mining waste rock located in agricultural land and suburban wasteland. Topsoil samples were taken from 73 heaps and described using many parameters, including heavy metal contamination (the content of total, EDTA-extractable, BaCl 2 -extractable and water-extractable metals), macronutrient content, pH and texture. At five sites, a short transect was delineated from heaps towards their surroundings to estimate the impact of the heaps on the adjacent agricultural soil. The total heavy metal concentration in the heap soil varied greatly across sites, ranging from 5 to 522 mg Cd kg −1 , from 94 to 23,006 mg Pb kg −1 , from 6 to 51 mg Tl kg −1 and from 394 to 70,435 mg Zn kg −1 . These values were very high compared to that measured in the soil of the control areas: 2-5 mg Cd kg −1 , 13-67 mg Pb kg −1 , 1-17 mg Tl kg −1 and 63-476 mg Zn kg −1 . The extractability of heavy metals from heap soil decreased in the following order: Cd N Pb N Zn N Tl (EDTA) and Cd N Zn N Pb~Tl (BaCl 2 ). For the most mobile metal (Cd), the extractability averaged 43% and 5% for the EDTA and BaCl 2 extractants, respectively. A factor analysis reduced 33 soil physicochemical parameters to five factors that explained 72% of the variance in the data. Factor 1 represented heavy metal contamination (concentrations of both total and mobile Cd, Pb and Zn), factor 2 represented organic matter accumulation, reflecting the most likely age of a heap, factor 3 represented the total concentration of Ca, Mg and Tl derived from weathering of the waste materialmostly dolomite and calcite, factors 4 and 5 represented soil particles of different sizes. In the transect study, the amount of total and EDTA-extractable heavy metals in soil generally decreased when increasing the distance from the heaps, but still remained high in agricultural soil sampled 10 m from the foot of the heaps. The results of this study suggest that remnants of the historical Zn-Pb ore mining are "hot spots" of persistent soil contamination and may pose an environmental problem, especially those located in the inhabited areas; their status should be monitored by the local authorities.
Polish Journal of Soil Science, 2016
the physical and chemical parameters of soils play an important role in the binding and migration of trace elements in the environment. the study attempts to assess the correlation between the basic characteristics of colluvial and alluvial soils and the concentration of Cd, Cu, Pb and zn. this will make it possible to indicate the key factors determining the binding of metals in soils. the studied soils were located in an agricultural region in Eastern Poland and subjected to generally low anthropogenic pollution. Sixteen profiles (160 samples) were analysed for total heavy metals content and selected soil properties: grain size distribution, soil organic matter (SOM) content, ph, Fe and Mn content. We used three statistical methods: principal component analysis, cluster analyses and Pearson`s correlations coefficient. Relations for colluvial and alluvial soils were different. SOM content was characteristic for the highest positive correlations with the heavy metals. the most distinct correlations with this parameter occur in the case of lead. no correlations with ph were found, the correlations with the particular fraction content were weak. Strong but diversified correlations occurred in the case of Fe and Mn. In general stronger correlations with soil characteristics were found for samples with the low heavy metals content; anthropogenic impact causing the disruption of natural correlations.
Heavy metal distribution and chemical speciation in tailings and soils around a Pb–Zn mine in Spain
Journal of Environmental Management, 2009
Soil pollution by lead, zinc, cadmium and copper was characterized in the mine tailings and surrounding soils (arable and pasture lands) of an old Spanish Pb-Zn mine. Sixty soil samples were analyzed, determining the total metal concentration by acid digestion and the chemical fractionation of Pb and Zn by the modified BCR sequential extraction method. Samples belonging to mine waste areas showed the highest values, with mean concentrations of 28,453.50 mg kg À1 for Pb, 7000.44 mg kg À1 for Zn, 20.57 mg kg À1 for Cd and 308.48 mg kg À1 for Cu. High concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cd were found in many of the samples taken from surrounding arable and pasture lands, indicating a certain extent of spreading of heavy metal pollution. Acidic drainage and wind transport of dust were proposed as the main effects causing the dispersion of pollution. Sequential extraction showed that most of the Pb was associated with non-residual fractions, mainly in reducible form, in all the collected samples. Zn appeared mainly associated with the acid-extractable form in mine tailing samples, while the residual form was the predominant one in samples belonging to surrounding areas. Comparison of our results with several criteria reported in the literature for risk assessment in soils polluted by heavy metals showed the need to treat the mine tailings dumped in the mine area.
Environmental Geochemistry and Health
We investigated trace-metal (TM)––Zn, Pb and Cd––concentrations and spatial distributions in the uppermost layers of non-forest soils from Tatra National Park (West Carpathians). We aimed to determine the main factors affecting the distribution of TMs, as well as the risk they posed to the environment. TM concentrations were compared to the target and intervention values established by the Dutch Ministry. Principle component analysis was used to identify the potential factors affecting TM accumulation, with two-factor analysis being applied to further examine the importance of any given factor. To examine the regularity of the TM distribution, semivariograms were created. The semivariograms of Cd and Pb were similar, suggesting a moderate spatial dependence for these metal concentrations, while the Zn variogram indicated a lack of spatial continuity for this metal. We established that the Zn, Pb and Cd exceeded target levels and at some sites, Cd exceeded the intervention values, po...
Kemija u industriji, 2017
An exploratory study on soil contamination of Cd, Zn, Pb was carried out in the surroundings of a historical, abandoned Pb-Zn mining area in Hunan Province, China. The accumulation in soils and representative plants of Cd, Zn, Pb and their chemical speciation were investigated. The obtained results indicated that Cd, Zn and Pb presented a significant contamination compared with Environmental Quality Standards for Soils in China (GB 15618-1995). The geoaccumulation index suggested the degree of contamination: Pb > Cd > Zn. The modified BCR sequential extraction results showed that Cd, Zn, and Pb exist in soil in a relatively unstable form, and will exert a bad effect on the plants grown in the soil. Heavy metals in oranges collected in the sampling area were tested to identify the extent of pollution. The results confirmed that the sampled oranges were polluted with Pb, which exceeded the national food safety standard by 3.4-6.3 times. Heavy metals in branches and leaves showed different accumulation characteristics than the fruits.
Environmental Health Engineering and Management, 2019
Background: Soil pollution with heavy metals seriously threatens soil quality, food safety, and human health. This study was conducted to determine the soil pollution level and ecological risk assessment of different heavy metals in agricultural soils around Nakhlak Pb-Zn mine, located in Anarak district, Nain county of Isfahan province. Methods: A total of 50 soil samples were collected from agricultural land around Nakhlak mine and analyzed to determine the concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, Cu, and Mn. The geo-accumulation index (I geo), enrichment factor (EF), and potential ecological-risk index (Er) were used to assess the level of soil pollution with heavy metals. Results: The mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, Cu, and Mn were 355, 2.72, 347, 26, 36, and 505 mg/kg, respectively, which were higher than the background values of world soils. Based on the Igeo index, the study area was moderately to heavily contaminated with Pb and Zn, uncontaminated to moderate contaminated with Cd and Cu, and uncontaminated with Mn and Ni. According to the EF values, the study soil was moderately contaminated with Mn, Ni, and Cu, significantly contaminated with Cd and Zn, and highly enriched with Pb. The RI values showed a moderate level of heavy metals contamination in the study soil. Conclusion: According to the results, the ecological risk of heavy metals for ecosystem in agricultural lands around Nakhlak Pb-Zn mine is moderate. However, the contamination status should be considered periodically.