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Heavy Metal Pollution in Soils Around the Abandoned Mine Sites of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Southwest Spain)

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Abstract

This paper investigates the pollution load of selected trace elements in 32 soil samples collected around 21 different mining areas of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Southwest Spain), integrating chemical data with soil parameters to help understand the partitioning and mobility of pollutants. The minesoils are depleted in acid neutralising minerals and show limiting physicochemical properties, including low pH values and very high anomalies of potentially hazardous metals. The total concentrations of As (up to 1,560 mg kg−1) and certain heavy metals (up to 2,874 mg kg−1 Cu, 6,500 mg kg−1 Pb, 6,890 mg kg−1 Zn, 62 mg kg−1 Hg and 22 mg kg−1 Cd) are two orders of magnitude above the soil background values. The close association of Cd and Zn with the carbonate content in lime-amended minesoils suggests metal immobilisation through adsorption and/or co-precipitation mechanisms, after acid neutralisation, whereas As and Pb are similarly partitioned into the soil and mostly associated with iron oxy-hydroxides.

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Acknowledgments

The results presented in this paper were obtained in the framework of a Survey on Trace Element Concentrations in Soils of Andalusia financially supported by the Regional Government of Andalusia.

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  1. Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen s/n, 21071, Huelva, Spain

    J. C. Fernández-Caliani

  2. Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, Profesor García González s/n, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    C. Barba-Brioso, I. González & E. Galán

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  1. J. C. Fernández-Caliani
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  2. C. Barba-Brioso
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Fernández-Caliani, J.C., Barba-Brioso, C., González, I. et al. Heavy Metal Pollution in Soils Around the Abandoned Mine Sites of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Southwest Spain). Water Air Soil Pollut 200, 211–226 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-008-9905-7

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