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Ecological risk assessment of soil contamination by trace elements around coal mining area

  • Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Coal mining activities are inevitably connected with production of acidic drainage and airborne compounds such as fly ash and bottom ash with high metal content. Soil is a prominent sink for trace elements discharged from anthropogenic sources. Thus, understanding the occurrence, accessibility and ecological risk of trace elements around coal mining areas is of utmost importance in view of implications for environmental health.

Materials and methods

Seventy-five soil samples from 25 different sites were collected from Jharia coal field (India) and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, total organic carbon, and trace elements. For the background values of trace elements, black shale and sandstone were collected from the study area and analyzed for trace element concentrations. Sampled soils were evaluated for the level of soil contamination with respect to average shale concentrations of toxic trace elements in the region and assessed for their ecological risk in terms of enrichment factor, contamination factor, and pollution load index. Interactions among different trace elements and their spatial distribution were analyzed by the use of multivariate approaches. The study also quantifies the potential sources of contamination for each element and their relation with emission source.

Results and discussion

The average concentrations of Pb, Ni, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn, and Cd in the soil exceeded the world averages, while Cu and Zn overstepped their respective critical limit in the soil. Enrichment factor values showed that soil near coal mine areas was loaded with Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Ni. The pollution load index and contamination factor suggest that the soils were contaminated by all the investigated trace elements and areas near coal mines were the most polluted. The absolute principal component score technique, combined with multiple linear regression analysis revealed three major factors, coal mining activities/mine fires (40 %), windblown dust (23 %), and crustal (24 %), were responsible for soil trace element pollution in the area.

Conclusions

Coal mining activities, mine fires, and windblown dust are the chief contributors of soil pollution in the area. Coal mining activities/mine fires are the main contributing sources to soil Ni, Cu, and Cr, while crustal input was mainly represented by Mn and Zn and windblown dust for Pb, Fe, and Cd. High concentrations of trace elements at any site depend on the feasibility and availability of respective pollution sources.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the head of the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, and Director, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, for providing all the necessary laboratory facilities during the research work. Financial assistance in the form of a research project (EE/39) funded by Ministry of coal, Government of India, New Delhi is also acknowledged. We are also thankful to anonymous reviewers for critically examining the manuscript and for providing the useful suggestions which immensely helped in improving the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Bhanu Pandey & Madhoolika Agrawal

  2. Environmental Management Group, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR), Barwa road, Dhanbad, 826 015, India

    Siddharth Singh

Authors
  1. Bhanu Pandey
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  2. Madhoolika Agrawal
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  3. Siddharth Singh
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Correspondence to Madhoolika Agrawal.

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Responsible editor: Jianming Xu

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Pandey, B., Agrawal, M. & Singh, S. Ecological risk assessment of soil contamination by trace elements around coal mining area. J Soils Sediments 16, 159–168 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1173-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-015-1173-8

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