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Spatial Distribution and Environmental Risk of Arsenic and Antimony in Soil Around an Antimony Smelter of Qinglong County

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in soils around an antimony smelter at Qinglong together with the soil pollution levels and potential ecological risk. The results show that (1) total concentrations of As (23 ~ 539 mg/kg) and Sb (19.7 ~ 5681 mg kg−1) were higher than the Guizhou province-level background values (As, 20; Sb, 2.24), especially Sb. Their dominant geochemical speciation was the residual fraction which accounted for > 90% of the total concentrations. (2) The distribution of As and Sb in soils influenced mainly by land-use type, altitude, predominant wind direction, and distance from the pollution source. (3) The geo-accumulation index shows that the soil was highly contaminated with Sb and moderately with As. The potential ecological risk index shows that As posed a moderate risk and Sb a high risk. The general ecological risk was classified as high risk. However, the risk index coding method shows low environmental risk from As and Sb.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2018YFC1802601, 2018YFC1801701, and 2018YFC1801705 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U1612442), and the Science and Technology Innovation Team ([2020]5021), Guizhou Talent Base Project (RCJD2018-21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Metallurgy, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Yingping He & Fuzhong Wu

  2. Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Zhiwei Han, Jia Xiong, Shangyi Gu & Pan Wu

  3. Key Laboratory of Karst Georesources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Zhiwei Han, Shangyi Gu & Pan Wu

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  1. Yingping He
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  2. Zhiwei Han
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  3. Fuzhong Wu
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  4. Jia Xiong
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  5. Shangyi Gu
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  6. Pan Wu
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Correspondence to Fuzhong Wu.

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He, Y., Han, Z., Wu, F. et al. Spatial Distribution and Environmental Risk of Arsenic and Antimony in Soil Around an Antimony Smelter of Qinglong County. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 107, 1043–1052 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03118-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03118-6

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