Status of potentially toxic metal pollution in the agricultural soils near to India’s largest chromite mine

Abstract

This study highlights the contamination of potentially toxic elements (PTEs-- Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, Mn, and Zn) in five agricultural sites near to the Sukinda chromite mine, at Odisha, in India. The results indicated that Fe and Cr had very high concentration 5758–12687 mg kg−1 and 2144–5588 mg kg−1 respectively, followed by the concentrations of Ni, Mn, Zn, and Cd. The geoaccumulation study indicated ‘moderately to heavily contaminated’ with Cr in all the studied sites while ‘high to extremely high’ Cd concentration in the sites S1, S3, and S5. The ecological Risk Index also indicated few study sites have‘ considerable to very high potential risk’ due to PTEs concentration, which is concerning for agriculture, food security, and human health for the sustainable future. This pilot scale study proposes policy-level interventions to address the PTEs pollution in this region.