中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 32 No. 12 December 2022 |
（1. South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510530, China;
2. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Water Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Guangzhou 510655, China;
3. College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China;
4. Guangxi Hezhou Dongrong Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd., Hezhou 542899, China）
Abstract:Limited information is available on long-term effects of metal(loid)s pollution incidents. Here, we analyze the distribution characteristics and quantification of elements in the Southwest China Keda mining site, which is one of the most populated sites and enables human health and ecological risk assessments of elemental pollution. The results on modified degree of contamination indicated that the soil and sediment were highly contaminated near Dahu Lake. The health risk of children was almost 2.5 times that of adults in surface water, and 7.1 times in soil, respectively. Moreover, Tl and As were the main health risk contributors in surface water and soil, respectively, and As posed the highest ecological risk both in soil and sediment. These results indicated the potential impact of toxic metal(loid)s on the health of residents and environment. Hence, more scientific attention and proper management need to be paid to this environmental challenge in the future.
Key words: thallium; arsenic; mining site; ecological risk; health risk
