Environmental implications of high metal content in soils of a titanium mining zone in Kenya

Abstract

Mining activities contribute to an increase of specific metal contaminants in soils. This may adversely affect plant life and consequently impact on animal and human health. The objective of this study was to obtain the background metal concentrations in soils around the titanium mining in Kwale County for monitoring its environmental impacts. Forty samples were obtained with half from topsoils and the other from subsoils. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine the metal content of the soil samples. High concentrations of Ti, Mn, Fe, and Zr were observed where Ti concentrations ranged from 0.47 to 2.8 %; Mn 0.02 to 3.1 %; Fe 0.89 to 3.1 %; and Zr 0.05 to 0.85 %. Using ratios of elemental concentrations in topsoil to subsoil method and enrichment factors concept, the metals were observed to be of geogenic origin with no anthropogenic input. The high concentrations of Mn and Fe may increase their concentration levels in the surrounding agricultural lands through deposition, thereby causing contamination on the land and the cultivated food crops. The latter can cause adverse human health effects. In addition, titanium mining will produce tailings containing low-level titanium concentrations, which will require proper disposal to avoid increasing titanium concentrations in the soils of the region since it has been observed to be phytotoxic to plants at high concentrations. The results of this study will serve as reference while monitoring the environmental impact by the titanium mining activities.

Distribution of Natural and Anthropogenic Sources, and Mapping of As, Co, and Hg by Three Ecological Risk Indices in the Mid-continent of the USA

“…Mathematically, EF calculation using Ti as qualified, immobile, and standard element reference (normalizer) in the same sample site is accurate tool [49,58]. Ti is not easily impacted by the weathering (conservative), which means it is abundant and originates from the Earth's crust [27,35,58]. Ti is used as the normalizer in this study because of many reasons: 1) It is an immobile element that has low existence availability; 2) It has little variability of mobility in the soil or particularly stable [12].…”

The State of Critical and Strategic Metals Recovery and the Role of Nuclear Techniques in the Separation Technologies Development: Review

“…The need for metals and minerals is due to rise due to the new infrastructure expansion in developing countries, population growth, rapid urbanization, the transition to new energy technologies, and the widespread utilization of electronic gadgets internationally [4]. The demand for crucial metals has sharply increased and will continue to increase due to robust economic expansion, and the realization of an effective supply might be challenging [5] because of the need to extract ores at deep depths, with minimal concentrations and complex mineralization.…”

Core–Shell NaHoF4@TiO2 NPs: A Labeling Method to Trace Engineered Nanomaterials of Ubiquitous Elements in the Environment

“…12 Xray fluorescence spectrometry determined the Ti content of soil samples from Ti mining sites to range from 0.47 to 2.80%, but the Ti was found to be of geogenic origin with no anthropogenic input. 5 Though some efforts have been devoted very recently to discrimination of engineered TiO 2 from natural Ti-bearing NPs by a multielement detection approach, 13 this high natural background makes quantification of released and bioaccumulated concentrations of engineered TiO 2 NPs extremely challenging in the absence of some functionalization of the NPs to facilitate their discrimination. Labeling approaches proposed to date, for a range of NP compositions, have included radiolabeling, 14 stable isotope enrichment, 15 chemical doping with a low-abundance element, 16 or barcoding with DNA fragments.…”

“…The past few decades have witnessed significant advances in nanotechnology, from the controlled synthesis of nanomaterials to their applications in nanomedicine, , energy harvesting and storage, , and soil and water remediation. , Nanosafety and nanotoxicology have emerged as new research topics in response to increasing concerns regarding the potential adverse effects on humans and the environment exposed to nanomaterials intentionally, or inadvertently. , As one of the few nanoparticles (NPs) that have already been widely used in industry for decades, TiO 2 NPs have been heavily produced for a wide range of applications, such as pigments, sunscreens, cosmetics, medical implants, self-cleaning surfaces, photovoltaics, photocatalysts, antifogging surfaces, and wastewater treatment. , Because of this prevalence, it is crucial to understand the fate of engineered TiO 2 NPs in the environment to assess their risk and control pollution. Indeed, TiO 2 NPs have been predicted to have the highest environmental occurrence of all engineered NPs, and have been found in treated wastewater, sewage sludge, surface waters, sludge-treated soils, and sediments …”

“…In rivers with high concentrations of suspended matter (6.0–140.6 mg/L), the fraction of suspended Ti reached 62.3–88.6% (1.0–7.5 mg/g in terms of dry mass) with a strong correlation between the mass of suspended matter and the concentration of suspended Ti . X-ray fluorescence spectrometry determined the Ti content of soil samples from Ti mining sites to range from 0.47 to 2.80%, but the Ti was found to be of geogenic origin with no anthropogenic input . Though some efforts have been devoted very recently to discrimination of engineered TiO 2 from natural Ti-bearing NPs by a multielement detection approach, this high natural background makes quantification of released and bioaccumulated concentrations of engineered TiO 2 NPs extremely challenging in the absence of some functionalization of the NPs to facilitate their discrimination.…”