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Trace metal/metalloid concentrations in waste rock, soils and spontaneous plants in the surroundings of an abandoned mine in semi-arid NE-Brazil

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Abstract

This study aims to determine the concentrations of trace metals/metalloid in waste rock, soils and plants in three different environments of an abandoned mine in Brazil. Waste rocks (X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffractometry and SEM–EDS), soils (general characterization and potentially bioavailable nutrients and metals) and plants (total metal contents in shoots) were analyzed. Studied plant species included Bidens pilosa, Pityrogramma calomelanos, Ruellia paniculata, Combretum leprosum, Ziziphus joazeiro, Psidium guajava and Mangifera indica. The results showed that copper is the unique potentially toxic element in waste rocks, with concentrations up to 350,000 mg kg−1 in some rocks. The higher proportion of carbonates relative to sulphides naturally attenuates acidification due to sulphide oxidation, preventing acid drainage and soil acidification. Total Cu concentration in soils exceeded the reference values for soil quality in Brazil by 185, 78 and 18 times in the ore processing, waste rock and border areas, respectively, indicating a high contamination of soils even after 25 years of mine abandonment. Bioavailable Cu was positively correlated with inorganic carbon and phosphorus and negatively correlated with organic carbon in soils. Despite high Cu concentration in soils, the Cu levels in plant shoots were within the usual range, except for Bidens pilosa and Pityrogramma calomelanos, which showed 267 and 46 mg kg−1, respectively. Nevertheless, these concentrations are below the levels required to be considered hyperaccumulator species. This indicates that the ability to immobilize Cu in the roots/rhizosphere should be further studied due to its potential to remediate by immobilization and/or revegetate Cu-contaminated soils.

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Acknowledgments

The first author is grateful to National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) for financial support and to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for a PDSE-PhD grant. X.L.O. is grateful for financial support from the Proyecto PROMETEO (SENESCYT-Ecuador). The authors are also grateful to Extrativa Fertilizantes S/A for allowing sampling material from the mine area. We also thank the Brazil’s National Council on Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for a research grant provided to T.O.F.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Department of Mineral Production – DNPM, Rua Dr. José Lourenço, 905, Fortaleza, CE, 60115-280, Brazil

    Fabio Perlatti & Fernando Antonio da Costa Roberto

  2. Department of Soil Science, University of São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), Av. Pádua Dias, 11, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Tiago Osório Ferreira & Lucas Resmini Sartor

  3. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Ceará, Av. Mister Hull, 2977, Fortaleza, CE, 60440-554, Brazil

    Ricardo Espíndola Romero

  4. Department of Edaphology and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela – USC, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa, s/n. Campus sur, Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Spain

    Xosé Luis Otero

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  1. Fabio Perlatti
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Correspondence to Tiago Osório Ferreira.

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Fig. S1

Plants collected in the processing and waste rock areas at the Pedra Verde mine. Supplementary material 1 (TIFF 20,707 kb).

Fig. S2

Results of ED-XRF equipment calibration, % of recovery factors, detection limits for each element and identification of certified reference materials used. Supplementary material 2 (TIFF 18,530 kb).

Fig. S3

Graphical representation of total concentration of copper (bars) and the distribution of residual (non-extractable by Mehlich 3) and potentially bioavailable Cu (extracted by Mehlich 3). Supplementary material 3 (TIFF 7135 kb).

Table S1

Results of Factor Analysis for the transformed data (log) of the main soil properties (n = 39), including the percentage of variance and communalities. Supplementary material 4 (DOCX 15 kb).

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Perlatti, F., Ferreira, T.O., da Costa Roberto, F.A. et al. Trace metal/metalloid concentrations in waste rock, soils and spontaneous plants in the surroundings of an abandoned mine in semi-arid NE-Brazil. Environ Earth Sci 74, 5427–5441 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4556-7

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