Plant Soil Environ., 2024, 70(4):229-244 | DOI: 10.17221/344/2023-PSE

Ecological and human health risk assessment of tungsten and other heavy metal(loid)s in farmland around a typical tungsten mining area in southern Jiangxi, ChinaOriginal Paper

Qi Li ORCID...1,2,3, Li Tian1,2,3, Xiaojun Zheng1,2,3, Weijiang Chen1,2,3, Buchan Zhou1,2,3, Ming Chen1,2,3
1 Collaborative Innovation Center for Development and Utilization of Rare Metal Resources Co-sponsored by Ministry of Education and Jiangxi Province, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, P.R. China
2 Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Mining and Metallurgy Environmental Pollution Control, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, P.R. China
3 Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, P.R. China

The ecological and human health risks of heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) in soils around tungsten (W) mining sites have often disregarded the presence of W. In this study, we aimed to investigate the concentrations of 10 HMs (including W and other accompanying elements) in 18 agricultural soil samples obtained around a W mining site in southern Jiangxi, China. Furthermore, we determined the contamination status, source identification, and ecological and health risks of HMs in soils. Our findings revealed that HMs were extensively accumulated in soils within the study area, with the highest mean concentrations of W found. W concentrations were above background values at all sites. Multivariate analysis revealed that W mining activities, including extracting and transporting W ore, were the primary source of HMs in the soil (61.40%). The ecological risk assessment revealed that the potential ecological risk across the survey area exhibited a high risk, and the cadmium (Cd) and W should be prioritised as control pollutants for soils around the W mine site. The human health risk assessment displayed that 73.43% of children with an unacceptable non-carcinogenic risk, and W contributed the most to the overall non-carcinogenic risk (42.32%), followed by Cd and arsenic (As). In addition, 22.03% of children and 13.4% of adults were under a significant carcinogenic risk. Overall, our findings emphasise the importance of considering element W in future studies investigating the contamination of HMs around W mining areas. As such, we calculated a safe limit value for element W in soil (141.01 mg/kg) to facilitate the conservation and development of soils in W mining areas in China. Our study provides valuable information for pollution prevention and soil contamination risk mitigation in W mining areas.

Keywords: toxic element; toxicity; soil remediation; hazardous waste; safety limit

Received: August 24, 2023; Revised: February 13, 2024; Accepted: February 21, 2024; Prepublished online: March 19, 2024; Published: March 25, 2024  Show citation

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Li Q, Tian L, Zheng X, Chen W, Zhou B, Chen M. Ecological and human health risk assessment of tungsten and other heavy metal(loid)s in farmland around a typical tungsten mining area in southern Jiangxi, China. Plant Soil Environ. 2024;70(4):229-244. doi: 10.17221/344/2023-PSE.
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