Rumex acetosella L. and Minuartia verna (L.) Hiern as geobotanical and biogeochemical indicators for ore deposits in northern Greece

Abstract

Copper, zinc, lead, manganese, arsenic, iron, cadmium and molybdenum were measured in specimens of Rumex acetosella and Minuartia verna and in soils where these plants grow. In Macedonia and the Chalkidiki peninsula both plants occur on newly investigated sulphide-mineralized ground. There are highly significant correlations between the levels of copper, zinc and lead in the plants and those in the soils. Where high concentrations of arsenic occur in the soil, this is also reflected in the plants. Because of the common association of gold and arsenic, it is suggested that analysis of Rumex and Minuartia for arsenic may be a useful prospecting tool since most of the ore occurrences in the Serbomacedonian massif are auriferous. The high levels of manganese in both plants from a manganese mineralized area indicate a strong possibility of using biogeochemical methods to define zones of some types of mineralization of this element also.