Spatial Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Soil-Vegetation System of a Red Mud Slag Yard, SW China

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 109; no. 1; pp. 122 - 129
• Main Authors: Zhang, Runyu, Zhang, Zhi, Wu, Jing, Wang, Liying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acid rain; Alumina; Aquatic Pollution; Bioaccumulation; Biological magnification; Cadmium; Chromium; Copper; Distribution patterns; Dump leaching; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental risk; Flowers & plants; Geochemistry; Heavy metals; Laboratories; Leaching; Metals; Phytoremediation; Pollution; Red mud; Risk assessment; Sediment pollution; Slag; Soil pollution; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Toxicology; Translocation; Vegetation; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Bauxite residue disposal field; Potential ecological risk; Soil-vegetation system; Heavy metal; Phytoremediation
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-022-03493-8

The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution pattern, pollution status and potential ecological risk of Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, Sb, and Pb in soils and dominant plants around an abandoned red mud (RM) slag yard in Southwestern China. Soils exhibited representative enrichment and combination characteristics of these metals compared to the background values, ascribed to the leaching of long-term acid rain on the RM dump. The soil was moderately to severely polluted with As and Sb. Cd also posed a moderate ecological risk. Asteraceae species predominated in the RM slag yard, followed by Coriaria sinica and Robinia pseudoacacia . No plants were identified as hyperaccumulators because of low bioconcentration values, whereas Cosmos bipinnata can act as a potential phytostabilizer of heavy metals based on the translocation factor. The results provided effective decision support for reducing heavy metal pollution by phytoremediation RM stacking fields.