Evaluation of trace elements pollution in deposited dust on residential areas and agricultural lands around Pb/Zn mineral areas using modified pollution indices

• Published in: Journal of environmental health science and engineering Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 753 - 769
• Main Authors: Barjoee, Saeed Shojaee, Abadi, Saeed Zarei Mahmoud, Elmi, Mohammad Reza, Varaoon, Vahid Talebi, Nikbakht, Mojtaba
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2021; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystems; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Health; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Mineral industry; Mining industry; Pollution; Quality of Life Research; Rare earth metals; Research Article; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Iran; China; Trace element; Deposited dust; Modified pollution indices; Mehdi Abad Pb/Zn mine; Ecological risk assessment
• ISSN: 2052-336X; 2052-336X
• DOI: 10.1007/s40201-021-00643-8

Dust deposited on residential and agricultural lands can have serious consequences for the ecosystem when toxic trace elements are present. This study aimed to assess the ecological risk of the trace elements found in the deposited dust around the Mehdi Abad Pb/Zn mine, Yazd, Iran, using several modified pollution indices. The dust samples were collected by the grid method and a Marble Dust Collector (MDCO) sampler to evaluate the concentration of thirty trace elements: nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), barium (Ba), beryllium (Be), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), dysprosium (Dy), lanthanum (La), lithium (Li), niobium (Nb), tin (Sn), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), rubidium (Rb), Ferrum (Fe), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), strontium (Sr), tantalum (Ta), terbium (Tb), zirconium (Zr), tellurium (Te), thorium (Th), titanium (Ti), uranium (U), vanadium (V), yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), thulium (Tm), and cobalt (Co). This study employed multivariate statistical techniques, including Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and the IDW interpolation technique, as well as modified pollution indices such as Enrichment Factor (EF), Modified Pollution Index (MPI), Modified Potential Ecological Risk Index (MRI), and Modified Hazard Quotient ( m HQ). All the statistical data analyses were performed via SPSS Statistics, version 22.00. The HCA results showed that all of these trace elements, except Fe, form a group and had similar behavior. The average levels of all elements in the dust samples except for Cr, S, Sr, Ta, Tb, and Te exceeded the background value. The results confirmed that both anthropogenic activities and natural factors were responsible for the trace elements found in the dust. The average EF value for Pb (43.26) indicated its extremely high enrichment in the study area. The MPI, m HQ, and MRI results showed that 33%, 100%, and 33.33% of the dust samples were in the heavily polluted, extreme severity, and high risk categories, respectively. The IDW analysis results revealed that the highest value of the MRI and mHQ indices was in agricultural lands and residential areas; the predominant wind direction also played a role in transferring the elements from the mine to these areas. In general, the results indicated that mining activities increased the ecological risk in Mehdi Abad due to the presence of trace elements, especially Pb.