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Urban sediment contamination in a former Hg mining district, Idrija, Slovenia

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Abstract

Road sediments from gully pots of the drainage system and stream sediments from local streams were investigated for the first time in the urban area of Idrija town, the central part of the second largest and strongly contaminated Hg mining district in the world. Hg concentrations in road sediments were lower than in stream sediments. They ranged from 16 to 110 mg/kg (Md = 29 mg/kg) for <0.125 mm particles and from 7 to 125 mg/kg (Md = 35 mg/kg) for <0.04 mm particles, while Hg concentrations in stream sediments ranged from 10 to 610 mg/kg (Md = 95 mg/kg) for <0.125 particles and from 10 to 440 mg/kg (Md = 105 mg/kg) for <0.04 mm particles. High Hg loadings in stream sediments were successfully linked with identified mercury sources (rocks containing mercury ore, areas of former ore roasting sites, ore residue dumps), because they are located in the drainage areas of streams, from which the sediments were collected. Links between Hg loadings in road sediments and identified mercury sources were not recognized. Solid phases of Hg were determined by thermo-desorption technique and are similar for both types of sediments. Results show the occurrence of three different forms: elemental mercury, mercury bound to matrix components and cinnabar. Approximately 50 % of Hg in samples consist of non-cinnabar fractions. This is important, since they are potentially bioavailable. An interesting new discovery according to previous research of environmental media from Idrija area by solid-phase Hg thermo-desorption technique is that elemental mercury was determined in almost all investigated sediments in minor amounts (Md = 3 %).

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Acknowledgments

The presented study was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) in the frame of the research programme Groundwater and Geochemistry (P1-0020), which is performed by the Geological Survey of Slovenia. The authors would like to thank Vesna Miklavčič, Msc., director and Martin Kržišnik from Komunala Idrija for advices and good cooperation during sampling of urban sediments.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Špela Bavec & Mateja Gosar

  2. Technical University Braunschweig, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    Harald Biester

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  1. Špela Bavec
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  2. Harald Biester
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  3. Mateja Gosar
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Correspondence to Špela Bavec.

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Bavec, Š., Biester, H. & Gosar, M. Urban sediment contamination in a former Hg mining district, Idrija, Slovenia. Environ Geochem Health 36, 427–439 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-013-9571-6

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