Contamination and vertical distribution of As,Cd, Cr,Cu, Pb,Tl, and Zn in paddy soil irrigated with untreated leachate from tailings retention ponds |
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| Authors: | Qihang Wu Alejandro Lafuente Pérez Xuexia Huang Weitong Wang |
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| Institution: | 1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Quality Safety and Protection in Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China;2. Key Laboratory of Water Quality Safety and Protection in Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China;3. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China;4. Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain |
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| Abstract: | The contamination and vertical distribution of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Tl, and Zn in paddy soil irrigated with untreated leachate from the tailings retention pond were investigated. As, Cr, Cu, and Zn were slightly contaminated in the surface soil and hence their vertical distribution was not obvious. However, Cd and Pb were highly contaminated in the surface soil, while their concentrations decreased with depth, being negatively correlated with pH and positively with total organic matter. Tl was considerably contaminated in the surface soil and a V-shaped vertical distribution was observed where the concentration increased to a maximum at about 30 cm depth and decreased thereafter. The findings revealed that the regular irrigation with untreated leachate from the tailings retention ponds could cause considerable contamination of Cd, Pb, and Tl, and thus tailings should be stringently treated before disposal to minimize their potential environmental impacts on the surroundings. |
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| Keywords: | contamination paddy field tailings trace elements vertical distribution |
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