Volume 17, Issue 2, July 2016, Pages 646–661
J. Ayari1 and A. Charef2
1 National Office of Mines, La Charguia I, 3023, Tunisia
2 Centre de Recherche et de la technologie des Eaux, BP 273 Soliman 2080, Tunisia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2016 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The spatial distribution, source identification and contamination assessment of trace metal contents in the agricultural soils around Sidi Ahmed Pb-Zn abandoned mine, Northern Tunisia, were investigated using statistical methods, pollution indicators and geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques. A total of 7 soil tailing samples, 54 agricultural topsoil samples and 9 background topsoil samples were collected. The concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, Zn and Zr were then analyzed. The tailings samples are extremely rich in trace metals. The maximum concentrations in the tailings were 635.4, 618.2, 156.3, 713.8, 59989 and 91691 mg.kg-1 for As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn, respectively. Statistical methods (descriptive statistics, Pearson
Author Keywords: Trace metal, Agricultural soils, spatial distribution, Contamination assessment, Statistical methods, GIS mapping technique.
J. Ayari1 and A. Charef2
1 National Office of Mines, La Charguia I, 3023, Tunisia
2 Centre de Recherche et de la technologie des Eaux, BP 273 Soliman 2080, Tunisia
Original language: English
Copyright © 2016 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The spatial distribution, source identification and contamination assessment of trace metal contents in the agricultural soils around Sidi Ahmed Pb-Zn abandoned mine, Northern Tunisia, were investigated using statistical methods, pollution indicators and geographic information system (GIS) mapping techniques. A total of 7 soil tailing samples, 54 agricultural topsoil samples and 9 background topsoil samples were collected. The concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, V, Zn and Zr were then analyzed. The tailings samples are extremely rich in trace metals. The maximum concentrations in the tailings were 635.4, 618.2, 156.3, 713.8, 59989 and 91691 mg.kg-1 for As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn, respectively. Statistical methods (descriptive statistics, Pearson
Author Keywords: Trace metal, Agricultural soils, spatial distribution, Contamination assessment, Statistical methods, GIS mapping technique.
How to Cite this Article
J. Ayari and A. Charef, “Spatial distribution and contamination assessment of trace metals in agricultural soils around Sidi Ahmed Pb-Zn abandoned mine, Tunisia,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 646–661, July 2016.
