Heavy metal pollution of forest soils affected by the copper industry

Abstract

AbstractThe study was carried out on forest soils in the vicinity of a copper ore tailings facilityand a copper smelter in Lower Silesia, Poland. Soil and litter samples were collected in thesurroundings of the tailings facility under pine stands different in age (50, 18 and 11 yearsold) and under poplar stands (same age as the pine stands) located at an increasing distan-ce from the copper smelter (0.5 km, 1.5 km and 2.1 km). The purpose of the study was todescribe the effect of copper mining and smelting on forest soils. The following were de-termined in the collected soil and litter samples: pH in distilled water electrometrically witha pH meter and total concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb after digestion with perchloric acid(1:10) using the ICP-ES technique. Very high pH values were found in all organic hori-zons, which can evidence the alkalizing effect of dusts from the objects. In all the forestsoils, the highest total concentrations of all the analyzed elements were found in humuslayers, decreasing in deeper horizons of the soil profile. The total concentration of Cu, Pband Zn was much higher in forest soils under poplar stands in the vicinity of the coppersmelter. The concentration of all the elements decreased rapidly with the distance fromthe smelter. The concentration of Cu, Pb and Zn was higher than found in the vicinity ofthe objects on the arable soils. This can indicate a secondary rise in heavy metal concen-tration in the topsoil caused by the presence of a tree stand.Key words: forest soils, litter, copper smelter, heavy metals.