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Existent forms and ecological risk assessment of uranium and heavy metals in soil at a uranium mining area in northern Guangdong, China

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Abstract

The BCR continuous extraction method was used to extract soil samples from a uranium mining area in northern Guangdong, and the RSP and RAC evaluation methods were used to evaluate the ecological risk of soil contamination elements in the study area. The results showed that the soil was mainly in the residue state, but Mn was mainly in the reducible state (33.51%) and weakly acidic extractable (28.41%), and U was mainly in the oxidizable state (43.16%) and weakly acidic extractable (31.23%). U and Mn were the main contaminating elements in the study area, with high potential ecological risk.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41402002); Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 22A0294; 22B0433); State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment (East China University of Technology) Open Fund Project (No. 2022NRE08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resource Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan Province, China

    Liang Chen, Zehui Zhang, Zhenping Tang, Yong Liu, Qinglin Sui, Wei Huang, Shan Liu, Peng Feng, Zhixin Guo & Haiyang He

  2. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Liang Chen

  3. Hunan Key Laboratory of Rare Metal Minerals Exploitation and Geological Disposal of Wastes, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan Province, China

    Zhenping Tang, Qinglin Sui, Wei Huang, Shan Liu, Peng Feng, Zhixin Guo & Haiyang He

  4. Hunan Province Engineering Technology Research Centre of Uranium Tailings Treatment Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan Province, China

    Yong Liu

  5. Hunan Provincial Mining Geotechnical Engineering Disaster Prediction and Control Engineering Technology Research Center, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China

    Liang Chen & Haiyang He

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  1. Liang Chen
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Chen, L., Zhang, Z., Tang, Z. et al. Existent forms and ecological risk assessment of uranium and heavy metals in soil at a uranium mining area in northern Guangdong, China. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 1805–1814 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08870-z

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