Abstract
Cyanide and potentially toxic elements in tailings from gold mining can cause serious pollution, and harm the surrounding environment through rainfall seepage and leakage from tailings ponds. In this study, 40 surface soil samples were collected from the Liujiadian tailings pond basin in **gu District, Bei**g, and the contents of cyanide, Sb, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg were determined. A spatial distribution map of these pollutants was drawn, the pollution degrees of cyanide, Sb, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg were evaluated, and the ecological risk degrees of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Hg were preliminarily evaluated. The pollution sources were analysed using multivariate statistical methods. The contents of potentially toxic elements in 17 plant samples collected in the study area were analysed, and the pollution levels were evaluated. The results show that the seriously polluted areas are mainly around the tailings pond and its downstream areas, and the pollution degree decreases with increasing distance. Arsenic, Pb and Cd are the main pollutants, followed by cyanide, Cu and Zn. Antimony and Hg occur as minor pollutants. The potential ecological risk of the whole study area is very high, and the high ecological risk area is around the tailings pond and its downstream areas. The risk is mainly associated with As and Cd. The multivariate statistical analysis results show that pollution mainly comes from the tailings pond, and agricultural activities have a certain impact. According to the detected potentially toxic element concentrations in the 17 plant samples, the plants are essentially not polluted by potentially toxic elements.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the project of Bei**g Tailings Ponds Investigation and Impact Assessment (No. TC170855A). The assistance of the Bei**g Branch of ALS Analytical Testing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd in detecting the pollution elements content in the soil and the assistance of the Bei**g Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis in detecting the pollution elements content in the plants are gratefully acknowledged.
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The project of Bei**g Tailings Ponds Investigation and Impact Assessment (No. TC170855A) have been provided for this manuscript.
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Zhongjian Zhang and Hao Zhang conceived of the study, designed this study, and carried out field investigation. Hao Zhang and Qiguo Zhang carried out the lab work and analysed data. Hao Zhang wrote the manuscript. Zhongjian Zhang and **aolei Ma critically revised the manuscript.
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Zhang, H., Zhang, Z., Ma, X. et al. Spatial distribution and risk assessment of pollutants in a tailings pond for gold mining in **gu District, Bei**g, China. Environ Earth Sci 80, 416 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09710-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09710-7