Chemistry for Sustainable Development 20 (2012) 375384 Features of Soil Pollution in the Region of Storage of the Wastes from Pyrometallurgical Zinc Extraction at the Belovo Zinc Plant

Abstract

Abstract Total heavy metal content in the soil in the region of the storage of wastes from pyrometallurgical works (Belovo Zinc Plant) was investigated. It was established that the high level of zinc and copper pollution is conserved also after the plant stops its operation. The maximal pollution was detected in the direct vicinity of clinker mound; it exceeds the background values for zinc by a factor of 60. At a distance of 300 m pollution decreases (17-fold excess over the background value) but it can be followed even at a distance of 5 km from the Belovo Zinc Plant (5-fold level). The fraction of mobile forms of a number of elements extracted through stepwise leaching was determined. For the soil with the heaviest pollution (ðÍ of water extract 5.58), the fraction of mobile zinc forms exceeds the MPC by a factor of 66, copper by a factor of 2, manganese is below the normal value, mobile forms of nickel were not detected. Thus obtained row depicts the geoecological condition of soil in the region of waste storage of the Belovo Zinc Plant