Abstract

SANTOS, E.S.; ABREU, M.M.; FERREIRA, M. B.  and  MAGALHAES, M.C.F.. Availability of Cu, Pb and Zn in Canal Caveira and São Domingos mine areas from Iberian Pyrite Belt. Rev. de Ciências Agrárias [online]. 2010, vol.33, n.1, pp.358-366. ISSN 0871-018X.

Several mining areas are abandoned in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) leading to important points of environmental con­tamination. The potential and immediate environmental risk and impact on public health of hazardous elements from soil can be estimated from availability analy­sis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the availability of Cu, Pb and Zn in São Domingos and Canal Caveira mining ar­eas located in the IPB. Both mining areas had high soil ele­mental total concentrations. Metals avail­ability changed with plots and, is related with soils characteristics. In Canal Caveira mine area, the Pb available frac­tion in soils was higher than in São Domingos soils however, the opposite was observed for Zn. The fractions of available Cu, in both mine soils, are <0.6 % of the total concentration. In both min­ing areas, Cu and Zn are mainly associ­ated with the residual fraction, while Pb is associated with residual fraction in São Domingos and with organic matter in Ca­nal Caveira soils.

Keywords : abandoned mines; availabil­ity; elements leaching; elements partition­ing.

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