This paper aims to survey metal concentrations in soils in the vicinity of a coal-firedpower
plant located in southwest of Portugal. Two annual sampling campaigns were carried out to
measure a hypothetical soil contamination around the coal plant. The sampling area was divided into two
subareas, both centered in the emission source, delimited by two concentric circles with radius of 6 km
and 20 km. About 40 samplings points were defined in the influence area. Metals measurements were
performed with a portable analytical X-ray dispersive energy fluorescence spectrometer identifying about
20 different elements in each sampling point. The most relevant elements measured included As, Cu, Fe,
Hg, Pb, Ti and Zn in both sampling areas. Considering the results obtained in the first sampling campaign,
arsenic is predominantly higher within the 6-20 km sampling area. The second sampling campaign
showed that both sampling areas presented relatively similar metal concentrations except for Fe, Mn, Sr
and Zn which concentration is higher within the 6-20 km sampling area. Also, As, Fe, Mn and Ti
concentrations decreased significantly from the first to the second sampling campaign and their
concentration were predominately higher in the NE-E and E-SE directions