Distribution and mobility of metals in agricultural soils near a copper smelter in South China

The distribution and mobility of heavy metals in the paddy soils surrounding a copper smelting plant in south China was investigated. We assessed the degree of metal contamination using an index of geoaccumulation. The metals were divided into two groups: (1) Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd, whose concentrations were heavily affected by anthropogenic inputs, and (2) Ni, Co and Cr, which were mainly of geochemical origin. Concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Pb in the polluted soils were higher than the Chinese soil quality criteria. The chemical partitioning patterns of Pb, Zn and Cu indicated that Pb was largely associated with the residual and NH2OH HCl extractable fractions. In contrast, Cd was predominantly associated with the MgCl2 extractable fraction. A large proportion of Cu was bound to the acidic H2O2 extractable fractions, while Zn was predominantly found in the residual phase. The fraction of mobile species, which potentially is the most harmful to the environment, was found to be elevated compared to unpolluted soils in which heavy metals are more strongly bound to the matrix. The mobility of the metals was studied by water extraction using a modification of Tessier’s procedure, and the order of mobility was Zn > Cd > Cu  > Pb.

[1]  S. Qi,et al.  Heavy metals in agricultural soils of the Pearl River Delta, South China. , 2002, Environmental pollution.

[2]  D. Vaughan,et al.  Metal fixation and mobilisation in the sediments of the Afon Goch estuary — Dulas Bay, Anglesey , 1996 .

[3]  E. Rybicka.  Impact of mining and metallurgical industries on the environment in Poland , 1996 .

[4]  A. Tessier,et al.  Sequential extraction procedure for the speciation of particulate trace metals , 1979 .

[5]  R. Mckenzie,et al.  The association of trace elements with manganese minerals in Australian soils , 1966 .

[6]  T. Xianguo,et al.  Environmental geochemistry of heavy metal contaminants in soil and stream sediment in Panzhihua mining and smelting area, Southwestern China , 2003 .

[7]  A. Kabata-Pendias.  Trace elements in soils and plants , 1984 .

[8]  G. Müller,et al.  Heavy metals in freshly deposited sediments of the Gomati River (a tributary of the Ganga River): effects of human activities , 1997 .

[9]  I. Thornton.  Environmental geochemistry and health in the 1990s: a global perspective , 1993 .

[10]  F. Tateo,et al.  Factors controlling heavy-metal dispersion in mining areas: the case of Vigonzano (northern Italy), a Fe-Cu sulfide deposit associated with ophiolitic rocks , 2001 .

[11]  I. Thornton,et al.  Chemical partitioning of the new National Institute of Standards and Technology standard reference materials (SRM 2709–2711) by sequential extraction using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry , 1995 .

[12]  R. Allan.  Introduction: Mining and metals in the environment , 1997 .

[13]  K. Turekian,et al.  Distribution of the Elements in Some Major Units of the Earth's Crust , 1961 .

[14]  L. Ying.  THE CHEMICAL SPECIATION OF HEAVY METALS OF URBAN SOIL IN NANJING , 2003 .

[15]  G. Muller.  INDEX OF GEOACCUMULATION IN SEDIMENTS OF THE RHINE RIVER , 1969 .

[16]  Impact of mining activities upon the environment of the Slovak Republic: two case studies , 1999 .

[17]  B. Vivo,et al.  Potential environmental hazard in the mining district of southern Iglesiente (SW Sardinia, Italy) , 1999 .

[18]  I. Thornton.  Impacts of mining on the environment; some local, regional and global issues , 1996 .

[19]  Myung Chae Jung,et al.  Heavy metal contamination of soils and plants in the vicinity of a lead-zinc mine, Korea , 1996 .