Potentianally toxic elements in soils and plants on a reclaimed coal-weaste dump in Southern Poland (preliminary study)

Abstract

The phase composition and concentrations of six potentially toxic elements (Zn, Pb, Mn, Cu, Ni, and Cd) in topsoil and plants were studied. The samples were taken from the waste dump in Katowice in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Mineral matter was identified by XRD and SEM. Mineral composition of studied topsoils depends on material composition used to forming the surface layer on the dump. There aluminosilicates (chlorite, muscovite, clays minerals), quartz, Fe and Ca sulphates and Fe oxides dominate. On plants shoots there were identified dolomites, Fe oxides, Ca sulphates, Na and K chlorides and rarely Au-Cu alloys beside quartz and aluminosilicates. By using AAS and ICP-OES contents of heavy metals in soils and plants were determined. Scanning electron microscope allowed to define the chemical composition in soils and plants and XRD to identify mineral contents. In this work measurement of pH and total organic carbon content were carried out. Results indicate that topsoil is highly enriched in heavy metals, especially in zinc, and it is positive correlated with contents of metals in plants growing on such contaminated area. In soils Zn content was in the range from 120 to 3550 mg kg-1 , Pb from 31 to 905 mg kg-1, Ni from 3 to 78 mg kg-1 and Cd from1 to 11 mg kg-1. For plants it was respectively Zn to 284 mg kg-1 , Pb to 59 mg kg-1 , Ni to 4 mg kg-1 and Cd to 1 mg kg-1. The results indicate that application of coal wastes as reclamation material is not advised due to environmental issues.

Structure and thermal history of the Wełnowiec dump, Poland: A municipal dump rehabilitated with coal waste

“…The temperature of burning waste can exceed 1300°C (Sawicki, 2004;Sokol et al, 2005). The thermal processes happening within a dump take place where access to air is limited, and commonly in the presence of fire is not controlled at the initial stage, the fire can involve an entire dump, with serious environmental repercussions (e.g., Nadłonek and Cabała, 2016;Stracher et al, 2011Stracher et al, , 2013Stracher et al, , 2015. Coal is known to concentrate trace elements (e.g., Dai et al, 2003Dai et al, , 2004Dai et al, , 2005Dai et al, , 2012Ward et al, 1999) which may be concentrated further by fire in coalwaste dumps (e.g., Kruszewski, 2013).…”

The Behaviour of Siderite Rocks in an Experimental Imitation of Pyrometamorphic Processes in Coal-Waste Fires: Upper and Lower Silesian Case, Poland

“…The USCB sample was used for comparison. and 0.31 (13) pyrite. Electron Probe Micro Analysis data of individual grains of siderite showed the wt.% concentrations to be FeO (46.…”

“…As is common worldwide, these seams can undergo spontaneous combustion influenced by numerous external and internal factors [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Combustion also occurs in coal-waste heaps that typically contain gangue in abundance [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In both situations, significant environmental problems can ensue.…”