Effects of heavy metal in agricultural soils adjacent to mining areas in southeastern Spain
Abstract
In this work we have analyzed metal pollution in agricultural soils near the mining district of Cartagena-La Union. Sampling was performed by taking 20 samples of agricultural soils through a random distribution in an area of 100 km2 around the Sierra Minera.
The results show significant concentrations that meet and exceed the maximum levels permitted by international regulations in eleven different heavy metals. Aluminum and Iron stand out above the others with mean concentrations of 13% and 10% respectively. It is also remarkable the excessive contamination of lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn), doubling and even tripling the maximum established by the more permissive laws and exceeding by far the levels above which intervention is needed, after all consulted legislations.
Downloads
The manuscripts published in Papeles de Geografía are subject to the following terms and conditions:
1. The publishing house of the University of Murcia (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia) keeps the copyright of the published manuscripts favouring and allowing the use and distribution of such works under the licence in 2 below.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2011
2. Manuscripts are published electronically under an Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported Creative Commons Licence Spain (Legal text). Readers are free to copy, use, share and redistribute the material in any medium or format as long as (i) appropriate credit is given to authors and original source (journal, publishing house and URL); (ii) the material is not used for commercial purposes and (iii) this licence and restrictions are stated.
3. Self-archive. Authors are allowed and encouraged to distribute pre-print versions (prior to evaluation) and/or post-print versions (after evaluation and accepted for publication) of their manuscripts. This favours the dissemination and early distribution of scientific knowledge and citing.
