Abstract
Gold has been exploited in the Poconé regions, in Mato Grosso state in Brazil, during the past 13 years using garimpo methods. In this study, background levels of metals were determined by analysing sediments and soils unaffected by mining activities, located upstream of the anthropogenic inputs. The study done in Poconé focuses on Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn. In addition, the study aims to evaluate the level of contamination in sediments, soils and water, taking into account drainage waters directly affected by gold mining. As the physical-chemical parameters of the waters are subjected to seasonal variations, they were monitored throughout the year to interpret the behaviour of the metals in the studied environments. In general, the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn presented values very close to the background in sediments, while the concentrations of Hg in sediments showed anomalous geo-accumulation indexes.
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Rodrigues-Filho, S., Maddock, J.E.L. (1998). Assessment of the heavy metal pollution in a gold “garimpo”. In: Wasserman, J.C., Silva-Filho, E.V., Villas-Boas, R. (eds) Environmental Geochemistry in the Tropics. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 72. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0010915
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0010915
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