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Evaluation of pollution by heavy metals of an abandoned Pb-Zn mine in northern Tunisia using sequential fractionation and geostatistical mapping

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 43942–43957 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

This study investigates the contents of lead, zinc, and cadmium in 109 near-surface soil samples collected around the abandoned mine of Fedj Lahdoum, northern Tunisia, to assess the risk of pollution they generate. The study involved some analytical procedures such as pH measurements, X-ray diffraction techniques, sequential fractionation, and geostatistical mapping using the ordinary Kriging techniques. The sequential fractionation revealed that the bioavailability of Pb, Zn, and Cd follows the orders F5 > F3 » F4 > F2 » F1, F5 > F3 » F4 » F2 > F1 and F5 > F2 » F4 > F1, respectively; their associations with organic matter and residual sulfides (F4) are relatively low. However, their high cumulated contents are dominantly associated with the residual (F5) and reducible (F3) fractions. The geostatistical mapping was endeavored to predict the spatial distribution of the studied heavy metals at unsampled sites and to produce a cumulated risk map of soil pollution. The latter is discussed with emphasis of the main factors responsible for the scattering of the pollution as much as the landscape conditions, the chemical composition of the mine tailings, the surface drainage of meteoric water and the wind. This study provides insight into the delineation of the spatial spreading of Pb, Zn, and Cd around the abandoned mine Fedj Lahdoum and their surrounding urban areas. It reveals that the mine infrastructure areas encompassing both extraction and processing and tailing deposition areas are the main sources of contamination. And the landscape conditions together with the surface drainage of meteoric water and the wind are the main factors responsible for the scattering of the pollution.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Philippe Garrigues the Managing Editor of ESPR for handling the manuscript and Dr. Ivan Perković and the other anonymous reviewers for their criticisms and comments that helped us to improve this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Mineral Resources and Environment, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092 El Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia

    Abdelaziz Sebei, Chiraz Abdelmalek-Babbou, Mohamed Amine Helali & Fredj Chaabani

  2. Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Anis Chaabani

  3. Laboratoiry of Geodynamics, Georesources and Geodnumeric, Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092 El Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia

    Ferid Dhahri

  4. Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, Gafsa, Tunisia

    Mohamed Amine Helali & Ferid Dhahri

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  1. Abdelaziz Sebei
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  2. Anis Chaabani
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Correspondence to Abdelaziz Sebei.

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Sebei, A., Chaabani, A., Abdelmalek-Babbou, C. et al. Evaluation of pollution by heavy metals of an abandoned Pb-Zn mine in northern Tunisia using sequential fractionation and geostatistical mapping. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 43942–43957 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10101-x

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Keywords

  • Heavy metals
  • Soil contamination
  • Sequential fractionation
  • Fedj Lahdoum mine
  • Tunisia