Abstract
The quantity of heavy metals in 44 surface and subsurface agricultural soils was determined for the area around a coal-fired power plant located in Boryeong, Chungnam Province. Although the concentrations of Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn were below the warning criteria regulated by the Korean Soil Conservation Act, Cd in 16 samples exceeded the criterion. Geoaccumulation index showed that contamination intensity of Cd was significantly high while those of the other heavy metals were low. Enrichment factor indicated that Cd was loaded to the soil from anthropogenic source(s). However, sequential extraction of the soil samples revealed that most heavy metals including Cd existed as barely extractable phases, which represented low bioavailability of the heavy metals. Our results indicated that Cd contamination which was clearly due to artificial factors in the vicinity of the coal-fired power plant is unlikely to cause the deterioration of nearby ecosystem.
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