Quality of Peri-Urban Soil Developed from Ore-Bearing Carbonates: Heavy Metal Levels and Source Apportionment Assessed Using Pollution Indices

Pollution indices are used to assess the influence of the bedrock as a natural source of heavy-metal (HM), and anthropogenic pollution from ore mining in soils developed from ore-bearing carbonates. The research was conducted in two areas differing in geological setting and type of land use in the U...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Minerals (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 1140
Main Authors:	Katarzyna Sutkowska, Leslaw Teper, Tomasz Czech, Tomasz Hulok, Michał Olszak, Jan Zogala
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	MDPI AG 01-12-2020
Subjects:	geogenic and anthropogenic origin heavy metals pollution indices soil contamination
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Pollution indices are used to assess the influence of the bedrock as a natural source of heavy-metal (HM), and anthropogenic pollution from ore mining in soils developed from ore-bearing carbonates. The research was conducted in two areas differing in geological setting and type of land use in the Upper Silesia Industrial Region, Southern Poland. Physical properties such as pH, total sulfur, total carbon and total organic carbon values, as well as total Zn, Pb, and Cd contents (ICP-OES) for 39 topsoil samples were measured. Contamination factor (Cf), degree of contamination (Cdeg), pollution load index (PLI) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo), were used to determine the deterioration of topsoil due to HM pollution. The HM content exceeded geochemical background levels by 2.5–18.1 times. Very high to moderate topsoil contamination was determined. In a shallow historical mining zone, the relative influence of particular HM was found to be in the order of Pb > Cd > Zn and, in a deep mining zone, Zn > Cd > Pb. In the topsoil developed over shallow ore bodies, the HM content was mainly (60%) due to naturally occurring HM. In the area of deeply buried ore bodies, 90% of the HM load was related to anthropogenic sources. Zn, Pb and Cd vertical distributions and the patterns of topsoil pollution differ in terms of types of mined ores, mining methods and times elapsed since mining ceased. Pollution indices are an efficient tool for distinguishing soil anthropogenic pollution and geogenic contamination.
ISSN:	2075-163X
DOI:	10.3390/min10121140