Assessment of Lead, Mercury and Arsenic in Soils of (original) (raw)
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Assessment of Lead , Mercury and Arsenic in Soils of Anka Area , North Western Nigeria
2014
The study area lies precisely between longitude 548’E and 600’E and latitude 1158’N and 1215’N and the concentration of Pb, Hg and As were studied in soils of the area. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which gold mining and the use of mercury for its processing has led to the contamination of the soils with Pb Hg and As. The assessment of the contamination of the soils was based on the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and Enrichment Factor (EF); the Igeo gives a quantitative extent of accumulation of the metal with respect to the quality of medium analyzed while the Enrichment Factor is used to differentiate between metals originating from anthropogenic activities and those from natural processes. A total of twenty four (24) soil samples were collected and analyzed using the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The data revealed that the soils in the study area are significantly contaminated, showing high level of toxic elements than no...
Environmental monitoring and assessment, 2013
One hundred and thirty composite soil samples were collected from Hamedan county, Iran to characterize the spatial distribution and trace the sources of heavy metals including As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, Zn, and Fe. The multivariate gap statistical analysis was used; for interrelation of spatial patterns of pollution, the disjunctive kriging and geoenrichment factor (EFG) techniques were applied. Heavy metals and soil properties were grouped using agglomerative hierarchical clustering and gap statistic. Principal component analysis was used for identification of the source of metals in a set of data. Geostatistics was used for the geospatial data processing. Based on the comparison between the original data and background values of the ten metals, the disjunctive kriging and EFG techniques were used to quantify their geospatial patterns and assess the contamination levels of the heavy metals. The spatial distribution map combined with the statistical analysis showed that the main source of Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Pb, and V in group A land use (agriculture, rocky, and urban) was geogenic; the origin of As, Cd, and Cu was industrial and agricultural activities (anthropogenic sources). In group B land use (rangeland and orchards), the origin of metals (Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, and V) was mainly controlled by natural factors and As, Cd, Cu, and Pb had been added by organic factors. In group C land use (water), the origin of most heavy metals is natural without anthropogenic sources. The Cd and As pollution was relatively more serious in different land use. The EFG technique used confirmed the anthropogenic influence of heavy metal pollution. All metals showed concentrations substantially higher than their background values, suggesting anthropogenic pollution.
Impact of Former Mining Activity to Soil Contamination by Risk Elements
Archives of Ecotoxicology
The level of contamination of the environment in the past few decades is largely influenced by the anthropogenic activity. Among the most burdened areas by the remains of the mining and processing industry in the middle Spiš region, where was treated by mercury - containing ore (cinnabar and tetraedrite) from the middle of 20th century to 1993. About 500 meters from the main processing plant is located tailing pond where landfilled flotation sludge with the content of mercury is more than 46 mg/kg. In the present work, we have focused on the assessment of the level of contamination of the upper horizon (0-0.1 m) of agricultural and forest land in the cadastral territory of Markušovce, where is located the emission source and the pond. We determined 28 sampling points by GPS method on areas of our interest. All soil samples have been subjected to analyses for the detection of the active and the exchange of the soil reaction, the content of humus (%), total concentration of Hg and the...