Abstract:
Antimony (Sb) is an emerging toxic metalloid. In order to evaluate the co-pollution degree of Sb and As and the ecological effects related to mining activities in mining bodies exposed for a long time, the total quantities and occurrence patterns of Sb and arsenic (As) in three typical antimony ore areas in Southwest China were systematically analyzed using atomic fluorescence method and Wenzel continuous extraction method. The results showed that: (1) The total amount of Sb and As exceeded the second type of control value in the
Soil Environmental Quality Risk Control Standard for Soil Contamination of Development Land (GB 36600-2018), the distribution of Sb were mining area > smelting area > tailing area > control area, and the distribution of As were tailing area > mining area > smelting area > control area, the CV values were all greater than 90%, with wide variability. (2) Chemical speciation of Sb and As were residual phases (F5)> amorphous and poorly-crystalline hydrous oxides of Fe and Al (F3)> well-crystallized hydrous oxides of Fe and Al (F4)> specifically adsorbed (F2)> non-specifically adsorbed (F1). (3) Spearman correlation and redundancy analysis indicated that pH, SOM, EC and Eh were significantly correlated with the geochemical speciation content of Sb and As (
P<0.05). (4) Linear regression analysis showed that the increase of the total amount of exogenous Sb and As led to the increase of Sb(F1+F2+F3+F4) and As(F1+F2+F3+F4) content in the extractable state. (5)
Igeo and RSP values of the antimony mining area are greater than 2, which belongs to heavy to serious pollution pollution level; RI of each functional area was greater than 80, and the average RI of the mining area and the smelting area reached extremely strong ecological risk, indicating that the co-pollution of Sb and As was serious in the southwest antimons mining area, and the contribution rate of Sb was the largest, which should be controlled preferentially; SPI showed that pollution degree of Sb and As were mining area > smelting area > tail mining area > control area. The study shows that the potential ecological risk of Sb in the southwest antimony mining area should not be ignored, and the geochemical speciation of Sb should be fully considered in the treatment process, and the management mode of classified policy, regional control and hierarchical management should be formulated.