Total concentration, speciation and mobility of potentially toxic elements in soils around a mining area in central Iran

Abstract

The current study was designed to investigate the extent and severity of contamination as well as the fractionation of potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni) in minesoils and agricultural soils around a Pb–Zn mine in central Iran. For this purpose, 20 agricultural soils and eight minesoils were geochemically characterized. Results showed that minesoils contained elevated concentrations of As (12.9–254mgkg−1), Cd (1.2–55.1mgkg−1), Pb (137–6239mgkg−1) and Zn (516–48,889mgkg−1). The agricultural soils were also polluted by As (5.5–57.1mgkg−1), Cd (0.2–8.5mgkg−1), Pb (22–3451mgkg−1) and Zn (94–9907mgkg−1). The highest recorded concentrations for these elements were in soils influenced directly by tailing ponds. Chromium, Cu and Ni content in agricultural soils (with average value of 74.1, 34.6 and 50.7mgkg−1, respectively) were slightly higher than the minesoils (with average value of 54.5, 33.1 and 43.4mgkg−1, respectively). Sequential extraction data indicated that there were some differences between the speciation of PTEs in soil samples. In the agricultural soils, Zn and Cd were mainly associated with carbonate bound fraction, As and Pb with reducible fraction, Cu with oxidisable fraction and Cr and Ni with residual phase. With respect to mobility factor values, Zn and Cd in the agricultural soils have been found to be the most mobile while As mobility is negligible. Also, the mobility factor of As, Cd and Pb in agricultural soils adjoining tailing ponds was high. In minesoil sample Cd was most abundant in the carbonate form, whereas other studied elements were mainly present in the reducible and residual fractions; therefore, despite the high total concentrations of As, Pb and Zn in the minesoils, the environmental risk of these elements was low. Based on the obtained data, a portion of Cu, Cr and Ni input was from agricultural activities.