Research and Assessment on Heavy Metal Contamination of Soils in Four Mining Areas of Enshi City

Abstract

In this paper, we collected 108 soil samples from four representative mining areas based on the selenium resources distribution in Enshi City. The contents of eight heavy metal elements including Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The compositive pollution effects in the four mining areas of the heavy metals were evaluated through the single factor index method and the Nemero synthesis index evaluation method. The accumulation characteristics of heavy metals in the vegetable soils were also analyzed in the four mining areas. The results shown that the pollution of the vegetable soils in the four mining areas were attributed to a multi-metals pollution mainly by the V, Cd, Hg and Ni. The vegetable soils in Enshi City have been polluted by heavy metals based on the results of the ayalasis of the single factor index method and the Nemero synthesis index evaluation method. The influence of the heavy metals to the pollution in Enshi City is Cd>Ni>Cr>Cu>Hg>As>Zn>Pb.