Abstract
This study was carried out in Złoty Stok, a historical centre of gold and arsenic mining. Two kinds of soil material, containing 5020 and 8000 mg/kg As, represented a floodplain meadow flooded in the past by tailings spills and a dry meadow developed on the plateau built of pure tailings, respectively. The effects of soil treatment with a cattle manure and mineral fertilizers were examined in an incubation experiment. Soil pore water was collected after 2, 7, 21, 90, and 270 days, using MacroRhizon samplers and analyzed on As concentrations and toxicity, and assessed in three bioassays: Microtox, the Microbial Assay for Risk Assessment (MARA), and Phytotox, with Sinapis alba as a test plant. In all samples, As concentrations were above 4.5 mg/L. Fertilization with manure caused an intensive release of As, and its concentration in pore water of floodplain soil reached 81.8 mg/L. Mineral fertilization caused a release of As only from the pure tailings soil. The results of bioassays, particularly of Phytotox and MARA, correlated well with As concentrations, while Microtox indices depended additionally on other factors. Very high toxicity was associated with As > 20 mg/L. Despite an effect of “aging”, pore water As remained at the level of several mg/L, causing a potential environmental risk.
Highlights
A historical mining and ore processing complex in Złoty Stok, situated at the foothill of Złote mountain range, for over two centuries, until 1962, was one of the largest producers of arsenic in Europe [1,2]
Similar conclusions were drawn from the studies related to higher plants from the studies related to higher plants [3,6,9]
Pore water of dry meadow soil, developed of almost pure tailings, contains high of As that never drop below 4.5 mg/L
Summary
A historical mining and ore processing complex in Złoty Stok (formerly Reichenstein), situated at the foothill of Złote mountain range, for over two centuries, until 1962, was one of the largest producers of arsenic in Europe [1,2]. Old type facilities used for ore enrichment were modernized in the years 1930–1937 to apply an efficient flotation technology. The concentrates produced in the flotation process contained ca. 40% of As in mass, while As concentrations in tailings, disposed in the impoundments, were initially in the range 1.5–2.5%, and later, after the improvement of technology, in the range 0.8–1.5%. Relatively frequent in that area, tailings overflew the dams and were disposed in the valley of a stream Trujaca,. Some grasslands, situated within a floodplain of the stream, can be classified as fresh meadows
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