Contamination assessment of pollutants and sediments of abandoned mines using integrated pollution index (IPI)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to classify the major polluted mine areas established by the integrated pollution index (IPI) for soil, water, and sediments to provide a baseline to extend further study. Besides, the present study aimed to investigate the pollutant levels of heavy metals in the soil, water, and sediments generated from waste mine areas. Almost all the mine areas river water, soil, and sediment carried high contents of heavy metals generally exceeding the freshwater, and soil criteria. The study consists of the assessment of three mines of heavy metal contamination in water, soil, and sediments near the Han River basin. Samples collected at different mine sites and analyzed according to the standard method. Based on the study results water, soil, and sediment quality guidelines are compared. The concentrations of heavy metals Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni, in soil and water are below the countermeasure levels whereas, sediments are moderately polluted by Zn. In sediments, the significant amount of heavy metals are Zn (35.31-491.87 mg/kg), Ni (13.44-132.25 mg/kg), As (0.15-8 mg/kg), Cd (0.05-3.51 mg/kg), Cu (0.001-39.85 mg/kg), Pb (0.03-32.79 mg/kg), Hg (0.19-1.68 mg/kg), and Cr6+ (0.01-0.78 mg/kg). The mining areas have obvious risks of contamination in the surface environment waters, and sediments through abundant precipitation. This study, intended for the classification of mines, by the IPI throughout each pollution index.