Abstract
The accumulation of tailings from gold mining and smelting may result in PTE pollution. We investigated PTE contamination from a large amalgamated gold mine tailings pond in Pinggu County, Beijing. In November 2017, 30 soil samples were collected around the tailings pond. The concentrations and pollution degree of PTEs in the samples and the sources of Sb, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg were analyzed. The average concentration of these elements in soil samples near the tailings pond (16.24, 28.29, 0.99, 171.04, 263.25, 99.73, 0.72 mg/kg, respectively) were higher than their corresponding standard values and background values of the study area. The geoaccumulation index showed that the pollution degree of As, Pb and Hg was moderate, while Sb and Cu present non-pollution to moderate pollution. The average EF values of the elements were Sb (38.31), As (4.23), Cd (0.71), Cu (3.68), Pb (21.24), Zn (0.82) and Hg (5.29), respectively. The environmental risk assessment developed throughout the PERI method indicated that Sb, As, Hg and Pb were the main pollutants in the study area. The three quantitative risk indicators (RI, Igeo and EF) were positively correlated, and all of them indicated that PTEs had significant pollution to the local area. Thus, Sb, As, Pb, Cu, and Hg pollution should be highly concerning. Multivariate statistical analysis shows that the pollution of PTEs was mainly caused by the accumulation of tailings ponds after gold mining and smelting. The research result is of great significance for the prevention and control of soil pollution of PTEs near the tailings pond.
Highlights
Toxic Elements pollution in tailing ponds has an increasingly serious impact on the environment, which has attracted global attention [1,2,3,4,5]
The descriptive statistics of the content of potentially toxic elements in the soil samples near the gold mine tailing pond were summarized in Table 3, which included the Chinese soil quality standards and the background soil values in the study area for evaluation and comparison
The above results revealed that the content of Sb, Cd, Pb and Hg near the tailings pond exceeded the standard in recent decades, which may be closely related to the mining and accumulation of tailings ponds, and its potential pollution risk was worthy of attention
Summary
Toxic Elements pollution in tailing ponds has an increasingly serious impact on the environment, which has attracted global attention [1,2,3,4,5]. The mobility of PTEs (i.e., Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd) mainly determines the environmental hazards of PTEs in tailings [6]. The discharge of PTEs with high toxicity (i.e., As, Cd) can pollute the soil and pose health risks to people nearby through different channels [7,8]. As a result of high PTE concentration, the nearby residents got various health problems [9,10]. A large number of PTEs from mining activities and tailings have been transferred to agricultural soil, which may pollute agricultural products [11,12,13].
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