ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessment of Arsenic Enrichment of Cultivated
Soils in Southern Poland
1*. K. Loska, 2. D. Wiechuła, 3. B. Barska, 4. E. Cebula, 5. A. Chojnecka
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1. Silesian Technical University, Institute of Engineering of Water and Wastewater,
ul. Konarskiego 18, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
2. Silesian University of Medicine, Department of Toxicology, ul. Jagiellońska 4, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
3. PRInż. SA Holding, Pl. Grunwaldzki 8/10, 40-950 Katowice, Poland
4. Silesian Technical University, Inorganic Chemistry and Technology Institute,
ul. Krzywoustego 6, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
5. Candela Ltd., ul. Czarnieckiego 72, 01-541 Warsaw, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2003;12(2):187-192
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Arsenic content in the cultivated soils of an area affected by long-range atmospheric transport from the
Upper Silesian Industrial Region (southern Poland) and point emission sources (coal mine) was 8.7 mg/kg
on average. The calculated index of geoaccumulation pointed to moderate arsenic contamination of the soil.
The enrichment factor calculated as a ratio between arsenic content in the soil and arsenic content in the
earth crust applying the logarithmic values of reference elements (i.e. chromium and calcium) also classi-
fied the soil as moderately contaminated with arsenic.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.