Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study was aimed to analyze the thallium pollution and assess the potential ecological risks in the vicinity of coal mines in Henan province, China. We studied 90 surface farmland soil samples from 9 representative coal mines. The Tl concentrations were determined and the potential ecological risks were evaluated. Investigations revealed the farmland soils were modestly contaminated and the trace elements in coal mining areas transferred to the surface soils. Soil Tl contents and potential ecological risks in coal mining areas were significantly increased compared with the original soils which came from the villagers’ mud houses built 40 years ago. The soil Tl concentrations ranged from 0.25 to 0.77(mean = 0.46) mg∙kg−1, which were higher than the original level (0.42 mg∙kg−1). The potential ecological risk index of Tl ranged from 24.00 to 73.2 (mean 44.08), representing a moderate pollution level as a whole of the soils in Henan. In general, high Tl concentrations and high potential ecological risk were found around SHQ and DTG. The soil Tl concentrations exceed the original level and pose noticeable ecological risks.
Highlights
Thallium (Tl) is one of the 13 priority pollutant metals that are more dangerous than cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) [1]
In the samples we studied, the Tl concentrations of these sites have shown two characteristics (Table 1). (1) The average Tl contents in surface soil are mostly higher than the original value (0.42 mg∙kg−1), there were 73 (81.1%), 3 (3.3%) and 14 (15.6%) samples were above, equal to and below the original value, respectively
In the samples we studied, we found the values of the potential ecological risk indexes in BPX and GG varied greatly among sampling sites
Summary
Thallium (Tl) is one of the 13 priority pollutant metals that are more dangerous than cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) [1]. This heavy, volatile and highly incompatible trace metal is uncommon in natural systems but important in anthropogenic systems due to its toxicity and probability of causing severe ecological risk at low concentration in environment [2]. The first reported adverse health impact of Tl pollution in China occurred in a rural area at the Hg-Tl deposit at Lanmuchang in Southwest China in 2004, where Tl enrichment in the aqueous system imposed potential environment risk [4]. It is urgent to characterize Tl and evaluate its potential ecological risk
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