Lead content in soils and native plants near an abandoned mine in a protected area of south-western Spain: an approach to determining the environmental risk to wildlife and livestock

Oropesa Jimenez, Ana; Gala Fernández, Juan Alberto; Fernández Pozo, Luis Francisco; Cabezas Fernández, José; Soler Rodríguez, Francisco; Universidad de Extremadura. Instituto Universitario de Biotecnología Ganadera y Cinegética; Universidad de Extremadura. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Ecología y Ciencias de la Tierra; Universidad de Extremadura. Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Carne y Productos Cárnicos; Universidad de Extremadura. Grupo de Investigación en Análisis de Recursos Ambientales

Lead content in soils and native plants near an abandoned mine in a protected area of south-western Spain: an approach to determining the environmental risk to wildlife and livestock

2019

Oropesa Jimenez, Ana | Gala Fernández, Juan Alberto | Fernández Pozo, Luis Francisco | Cabezas Fernández, José | Soler Rodríguez, Francisco | Universidad de Extremadura. Instituto Universitario de Biotecnología Ganadera y Cinegética (INBO G+C) | Universidad de Extremadura. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Ecología y Ciencias de la Tierra | Universidad de Extremadura. Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Carne y Productos Cárnicos (IPROCAR) | Universidad de Extremadura. Grupo de Investigación en Análisis de Recursos Ambientales (ARAM)

Publicado en Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Volume 26, pages 30386–30398, (2019) con DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06197-5

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A study of the impact of an abandoned lead (Pb) mine (“Las Musas”), located in SW Spain, on the contamination of the surface soil and pastures in its vicinity revealed the presence of widely distributed, high levels of Pb contamination. The total Pb concentrations in soils sampled at distances from 3 to 998 m from the mine ranged between 129 and 1053 mg/kg, when it has been reported that non-polluted soils have concentrations of 29–40 mg/kg. These exceed the maximum tolerable levels in agricultural soils for the protection of environmental and human health as established in international and regional regulations. While the concentrations of potentially bioavailable Pb in the soils also surpassed the regulatory levels, the effective bioavailable fractions were low. The Pb concentrations measured in native plants ranged from 1.70 to 129 mg/kg dry weight, with Cynosurus echinatus, Philadelphus coronarius, and Fraxinus angustifolia being the species that bioaccumulated the greatest concentrations of this metal. Estimation of the environmental risk to wildlife and livestock grazing in the studied area showed no potential toxicity for these animals.

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peerReviewed

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