Heavy metals are regarded as toxic trace elements in the environment. Heavy metal pollution in soil or rice grains is of increasing concern. In this study, 101 pairs of soil and rice samples were collected from the major rice-producing areas along the Yangtze River in China. The soil properties and heavy metal (i.e., Cd, Hg, Pb and Cr) concentrations in the soil and rice grains were analyzed to...

The thermodynamic properties of clay minerals, which control the stability of these minerals in solution, are still a matter of debate in spite of recent advances (Gailhanou et al., submitted). This is especially the case for the minerals that may structurally include trace elements and potential radionuclides such like Ni, Cd, Co, Cr, Mn, Pb, ... The usual methods developed in order to predict...

The quality and safety of agricultural products from metal mining areas are of wide concern. In order to investigate the contents and health risks of trace elements in fruit vegetables planted in metal mining areas, 440 samples of fruit vegetables from 117 vegetable plots were collected from Tongling mining area. Trace element contents in fruit vegetables and soil were measured. The results ind...

[1] We present the first comprehensive investigation of the concentrations, fluxes and sources of aerosol trace elements over the Gulf of Aqaba. We found that the mean atmospheric concentrations of crustally derived elements such as Al, Fe and Mn (1081, 683, and 16.7 ng m ) are about 2–3 times higher than those reported for the neighboring Mediterranean area. This is indicative of the dominance...

There is an increasing requirement for assessment of the bioavailable metal fraction and the mobility of trace elements in soils upon disposal. One of the approaches is the use of leaching procedures, but the results obtained are operationally defined; therefore, their significance is highly dependent on the extraction protocol performed. So, for this type of study, there is a need for referenc...

There is currently a wide variety of methods used to evaluate soil contamination. We present a discussion of the advantages and limitations of different soil contamination assessment methods. In this study, we analyzed seven trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn) that are indicators of soil contamination in Dexing, a city in China that is famous for its vast nonferrous mineral resource...

Four sediment cores were collected from selected locations of Sundarbans mangroves and Hooghly estuary, northeast coast of India to establish (210)Pb geochronology and trace metal distribution in sediments. Core sites were chosen to reflect a matrix of variable anthropogenic input and hydrological conditions. The vertical distribution of (210)Pb(xs) ((210)Pb(total)-(226)Ra) provided reliable ge...

An investigation focused on the transformation and distribution behaviors of trace elements and natural radionuclides around a coal gangue brick plant was conducted. Simultaneous sampling of coal gangue, brick, fly ash and flue gas were implemented. Soil, soybean and earthworm samples around the brick plant were also collected for comprehensive ecological assessment. During the firing process, ...

The objective of the study was the analysis of trace elements contents in coals of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), which may pose a potential threat to the environment when emitted from coal processing systems. Productive carbon overburden in central and southern zones of the USCB is composed mostly of insulating tertiary formations of a thickness from a few m to 1,100 m, and is represent...