Environmental Availability of Trace Metals
(Mercury, Chromium and Nickel) in Soils from
the Abandoned Mine Area of Merník
(Eastern Slovakia)

The former mercury ore deposit of Merník in Eastern Slovakia was selected for the investigation of the environmental availability of mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) in mine soils. Singlestep extractions with four chemical agents (deionised water, ethylenediaminetetraacetic (EDTA), acetic (CH₃COOH) and hydrochloric (HCl) acid solutions) and chemical analysis of the common nettle (Urtica dioica) were used to determine the availability of the three metals. Regardless of the type of extraction, the soluble ratios of metals in mine soils increased in the order of Hg≤CrCH₃COOH ≈ EDTA>˃H₂O. The total or extractable metal concentrations in soil did not correlate with their concentrations in aerial parts of the common nettle, however, its ability to accumulate these trace metals in roots and aerial parts copied the results of extraction tests, i.e. Hg≤Cr2O extractable metal concentrations and the plant root concentrations. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF) were considerably lower than 1.0, while BCF values for Ni were sensitive to soil pH, with higher values in more acid soils. The plant availability of Hg and Cr was by one order of magnitude lower than that of Ni, indicating that the former mine area poses no serious environmental and health risks, despite high metal concentrations in soil. Higher plant availability of Ni compared to Hg and Cr was likely due to high Ni solubility in CH₃COOH and EDTA solutions (10.3±5.51% and 9.39±4.50% of the total soil concentration, respectively), which release the metals present in exchangeable form, carbonate bound and complexed with soil organic matter. Low Hg availability could be explained by its binding to stable cinnabar(metacinnabar) as indicated by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and μ-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF).

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.

CITATIONS (6):

Nettle, a Long-Known Fiber Plant with New Perspectives
Chloé Viotti, Katharina Albrecht, Stefano Amaducci, Paul Bardos, Coralie Bertheau, Damien Blaudez, Lea Bothe, David Cazaux, Andrea Ferrarini, Jason Govilas, Hans-Jörg Gusovius, Thomas Jeannin, Carsten Lühr, Jörg Müssig, Marcello Pilla, Vincent Placet, Markus Puschenreiter, Alice Tognacchini, Loïc Yung, Michel Chalot
Materials

CrossRef

Multielemental Analysis of Soil from a Historical Mine Area by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry
Ivan Perković, Karlo Herceg, Darko Bakšić, Nikola Pernar, Vibor Roje
Journal of Analytical Chemistry

CrossRef

Assessment of mercury bioavailability in garden soils around a former nonferrous metal mining area using DGT, accumulation in vegetables, and implications for health risk
Marin Senila, Erika Andrea Levei, Tiberiu Frentiu, Cristina Mihali, Simion Bogdan Angyus
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

CrossRef

Ecological impacts and potential hazards of nickel on soil microbes, plants, and human health
Muhammad Rizwan, Kamal Usman, Mohammed Alsafran
Chemosphere

CrossRef

Digestate Improves Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) Growth and Fiber Production at a Chlor-Alkali Site
Chloé Viotti, Coralie Bertheau, Françoise Martz, Loïc Yung, Vincent Placet, Andrea Ferrarini, Flavio Fornassier, Damien Blaudez, Markus Puschenreiter, Michel Chalot
Plants

CrossRef

Hg-mining-induced soil pollution by potentially toxic metal(loid)s presents a potential environmental risk and threat to human health: A global meta-analysis
Li Chen, Xiaosan Luo, Haoran He, Ting Duan, Ying Zhou, Lequn Yang, Yi Zeng, Hansong Chen, Linchuan Fang
Soil Ecology Letters

CrossRef

Submit your paper

Instructions for Authors

Publication Fees

eISSN:	2083-5906
ISSN:	1230-1485