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Gosar, Mateja; Pirc, Simon; Šajn, Robert; Bidovec, Milan; Mashyanov, Nikolay; Sholupov, S. E.

doi:10.1023/a:1018402605831

Cited by 36 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Hg, which was located around the Qingyang River basin in the eastern part of the study area, exhibited higher values than in other parts of the world, which may be related to the presence of large-scale gold mining activity in the Shahe Town-Dayingkou area in Fanshi County. The method of mixed-mercury extraction results in the release of a large amount of volatile mercury to the atmosphere, and, especially in winter, it accumulates downwind of the gold mining area [49,50] in the Qingyang River basin. The spatial distributions of Cd, Pb, and As can be summarized as follows: the E River, located in the middle of the country, had the lowest levels, while the Yukou River in the west and the Yangyan River in the east had the highest levels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Health Effects of Heavy Metals Pollution of Agricultural Soils in the Iron Ore Mining Area of the Northern Piedmont of Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China

Wang

Zheng

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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We have measured the concentrations of toxic elements (Cd, Pb, As, and Hg) in 29 samples from agricultural soils in an iron ore mining area in the northern piedmont of Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province, China. The aim was to evaluate the potential health risks to local inhabitants based on the health risk assessment model derived from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The results show that the concentrations of the four heavy metals exceed their background values, especially in the case of Hg. The pollution level of the four heavy metals can be ordered as follows: Hg > Cd > Pb > As. The spatial distribution of the concentrations of the four heavy metals was uneven: pollution levels were lowest in the basin of the E River, and centered on the E River there was an increasing trend towards the Yukou River in the west and the Yangyan River in the east. In terms of the degree of pollution, this trend can be summarized as: Qingyang River > Yangyan River > Yukou River > E River. The main form of ingestion of the metals was via mouth and nose, and the risk to children is higher than for adults. Iron ore mining was the main cause of the increased concentrations of As and Cd, which represent a cancer risk for humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Health Effects of Heavy Metals Pollution of Agricultural Soils in the Iron Ore Mining Area of the Northern Piedmont of Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China

Wang

Zheng

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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“…The results presented here confirm the findings of the previous studies. [5][6][7] Total Hg concentrations in samples determined using a mixture of nitric, hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid are presented in Table 2. Concentrations are expressed on a dry weight basis.…”

Section: Total Mercury Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the production of mercury (Hg) at the Idrija mercury mine stopped in 1994, more than 500 years of mining and ore processing operations left behind intense pollution of nearly all environmental compartments. [1][2][3][4] Total Hg concentrations in polluted soils, sediments and the tailings have been well documented, [5][6][7] but little is known about the speciation and mobility of Hg in solids. 8 The Idrija ore deposit, the origin of Hg in the Idrija region, is classified as a monomineral deposit, as most of the mercury appears in the form of cinnabar (HgSy70%) and only to a relatively smaller extent in the form of native mercury (Hgy30%).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury fractionation in contaminated soils from the Idrija mercury mine region

Kocman

Horvat

Kotnik

2004

J. Environ. Monitor.

121

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Mercury (Hg) fractionation was investigated in contaminated soil in the Idrija Hg-mine region, Slovenia. The main aim of this study was to test and apply sequential extraction and quantification of different Hg phases in order to estimate the mobility and potential bioavailability of Hg in contaminated soils. Separation of Hg phases was performed by means of a selective sequential extraction procedure complemented by volatilization of elemental mercury (Hg0). The influence of temperature, moisture and storage on Hg0 volatilization was also investigated. The total Hg concentrations varied between 8.4 and 415 mg kg(-1) and were up to 40-fold higher than the maximum permissible set by Slovenian legislation. Fractionation measurements indicated cinnabar as the predominant Hg fraction, followed by Hg0. Accumulation of cinnabar predominantly occurred in coarse grained flood plain sediments, where on average it constituted more than 80% of total Hg. In contrast non-cinnabar fractions were found to be enriched in areas where fine grained material was deposited, reaching up to 60% of total Hg. The strong positive correlation (R2 = 0.71-0.99) among non-cinnabar fractions suggested that these fractions predominantly control the mobility and potential bioavailability of Hg. Sample pretreatment before fractionation influenced the partition of Hg between different fractions, and therefore fractionation in fresh, nontreated samples is suggested. In addition, the specificity of the extraction steps needs further attention, as it was shown that some extraction steps, such as the organo-chelating Hg fraction, do not provide meaningful results. This further suggests that protocols for mercury fractionation need further harmonization in order to improve the comparability of the results and their use in risk assessment. Volatile mercury fluxes averaged between 0.04 and 6.5 ng g(-1) h(-1). Good agreement (R2 = 0.81-0.95) was found between the non-cinnabar fractions and evaporation of Hg0. Both the temperature and sample moisture had significant effects on mercury volatilization. The results in this study were obtained at 70 degrees C, which may be somewhat high, in particular for bacterial activity which may also play an important role in Hg volatilization. Therefore it is strongly suggested that further optimisation of the protocol to assess Hg volatilization from soil is required.

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“…Leaching tests showed that although lower total Hg concentrations are found in the younger dumps, their long-term risk potential is higher than that of the older ones, which contain mostly immobile cinnabar (Biester et al, 1999). (Biester et al, 2000;Gosar, 2008;Gosar, Pirc, Šajn, et al, 1997;Gosar & Žibret, 2011).…”

Section: Idrija Hg Minementioning

confidence: 95%

Impacts of mining and smelting activities on environment and landscape degradation—Slovenian case studies

et al. 2018

Self Cite

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This paper provides an overview of the physical and chemical landscape changes that have occurred at four reference sites due to historical mining and smelting activities within Slovenia, and their comparison with similar sites around the World. Literature review has been made with the intention to identify major pollutant sources, its dispersion control factors, and effects. The four reference sites are Idrija, with more than 500‐year Hg mining and ore smelting history, the Meža Valley, also with a 500‐year PbZn mining and smelting history, the Celje area where Zn was smelted for 100 years and the Drava River alluvial plain, which is contaminated because of historical PbZn mining upstream. Based on the comparison between the four abovementioned reference sites and similar sites around the world that are situated in different landscapes and climates, we identified major sources of contamination, which are the erosion of mine and ore processing wastes, and atmospheric emissions of metal‐containing particles from smelters. In the first case, major control factors are rainfall pattern and river gradient, controlling erosion and sediment deposition patterns. In the second case, the prevailing control factors are topography and the dominant wind directions.

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Cited by 36 publications

References 9 publications

Assessment of the Health Effects of Heavy Metals Pollution of Agricultural Soils in the Iron Ore Mining Area of the Northern Piedmont of Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China

Assessment of the Health Effects of Heavy Metals Pollution of Agricultural Soils in the Iron Ore Mining Area of the Northern Piedmont of Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province, China

Mercury fractionation in contaminated soils from the Idrija mercury mine region

Impacts of mining and smelting activities on environment and landscape degradation—Slovenian case studies

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