We quantitatively investigated the eighth century heavy metal pollution in Heijo-kyo (Ancient Nara), the first large, international city of Japan. In this metropolis, mercury, copper, and lead levels in soil were increased by urban activity and by the construction of the Great Buddha statue, Nara Daibutsu. Mercury and copper pollution associated with the construction of the statue was particula...

This study determines the influence of the different soil components and of the cation-exchange capacity on the adsorption and retention of different heavy metals: cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc. In order to do so, regression models were created through decision trees and the importance of soil components was assessed. Used variables were: humified organic matter, specific cat...

Metals have been used by humans for thousands of years, and this has resulted in increased concentrations in the biosphere. The environment around pointsources, such as mines and smelters, are of particular concern, as metals may accumulate to high concentrations, and potentially reach levels toxic to the local flora and fauna. This thesis focuses on the effects on pied flycatcher populations o...

Tree bark species were randomly collected from 65 sites having different anthropogenic activities, such as industrial, high traffic commercial, residential high and residential low traffic volume areas of Ibadan City, Nigeria. Levels of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, and Cr of the dry-ashed bark samples were determined by AAS. The mean metal concentrations (mg kg(-1)) in samples from industrial zone were ...

The failure of a tailing pond dam at the Aznalcóllar pyrite mine (SW Spain) in April 1998 released a toxic spill affecting approximately 4300 ha along the Agrio and Guadiamar valleys. Two years later, we have studied yield and concentration of mineral nutrients and trace elements in sunflower plants grown in the spill-affected soil, and in an adjacent unaffected soil as comparison. The study ha...

The effects of lead, iron, copper, and zinc ions on 8-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase from red blood cell haemolysates in humans, both in the absence and presence of plasma proteins, have been investigated. 8-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) was not found to be a specific indicator of blood lead concentrations since it was also inhibited by copper and activated by zinc. Plasma protein pro...

Contamination of soils with heavy metals is widespread and poses a long-term risk to ecosystem health. Abandoned and active mining sites contain residues from ore-processing operations that are characterised by high concentrations of heavy metals. The distribution and mobility characteristics of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in paddy soil samples from Kočani Field (Macedonia) using ICP-...