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Geochemical investigation of potentially harmful elements in household dust from a mercury-contaminated site, the town of Idrija (Slovenia)

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Abstract

A comprehensive geochemical investigation of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in household dust from the town of Idrija (Slovenia), once a world-famous Hg mining town that is now seriously polluted, was performed for the first time. After aqua regia digestion, the content of mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) was measured. PHE-bearing particles were recognised and observed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometry before and after exposure to simulated stomach acid (SSA). Mercury binding forms were identified by Hg thermal desorption technique and gastric bioaccessible Hg was estimated after SSA extraction by ICP-MS. With regard to rural and urban background values for Slovenia, high Hg content (6–120 mg/kg) and slightly elevated As content (1–13 mg/kg) were found. Mercury pollution is a result of past mining and ore processing activities. Arsenic content is potentially associated with As enrichment in local soils. Four Hg binding forms were identified: all samples contained Hg bound to the dust matrix, 14 samples contained cinnabar, two samples contained metallic Hg (Hg0), and one sample assumingly contained mercury oxide. After exposure to SSA, Hg-bearing phases showed no signs of dissolution, while other PHE-bearing phases were significantly morphologically and/or chemically altered. Estimated gastric Hg bioaccessibility was low (<0.006–0.09 %), which is in accordance with identified Hg binding forms and high organic carbon content (15.9–31.5 %) in the dust samples.

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Acknowledgments

The presented study was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) in the frame of the research programmes Groundwater and Geochemistry (P1-0020) and Mineral Resources (P1-0025), which are performed by the Geological Survey of Slovenia. Additional financial support was provided by the Slovene human resources development and scholarship fund in the frame of the Ad futura programme, which enabled a five-month-long research exchange at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. The authors would also like to thank the authorities of the Idrija municipality and the staff of the Idrija Mercury mine in liquidation (Mr. Bojan Režun and Mrs. Tatjana Dizdarević) and the staff of Komunala Idrija for their support during sampling.

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  1. Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva ulica 14, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Špela Bavec, Mateja Gosar & Miloš Miler

  2. Technical University Braunschweig, 38106, Brunswick, Germany

    Harald Biester

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  1. Špela Bavec
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Bavec, Š., Gosar, M., Miler, M. et al. Geochemical investigation of potentially harmful elements in household dust from a mercury-contaminated site, the town of Idrija (Slovenia). Environ Geochem Health 39, 443–465 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-016-9819-z

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