فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Due to the proximity of dumping sites for mine tailings to agricultural lands, the migration of contaminants to these lands is possible. In this study, a total of 30 points along a track line of approximately 10 km in downstream of Mazra’eh copper mine (Ahar-East Azarbaijan) covered with a mixture of transferred tailings and bed sediments of Mazra’eh seasonal river were selected. The composite samplings were carried out fromsoils at depths of 0-10, 10-30 and 30-60 cmand fromsurficial sediments. In addition, six non-covered points (controls) with minimum distance from the sampling points were selected. The total concentrations of copper in surficial sediments as well as soils were determined using aqua regia method. Then, the relationships between these concentrations and soil properties were assessed. The results showed very high concentrations of copper (1116 mg kg-1, on average) in the surficial sediments. The concentrations of copper in the soil depths of 0-10, 10-30 and 30-60 cm were 105, 86.4 and 79.8 mg kg-1, respectively. Based on results, 13% of 0-10 cm soils, all of 10-30 cm soils and 57% of 30-60 cm soils were very contaminated, medium contaminated and low contaminated, compared to controls (48.4 mg kg-1, on average for three depths), respectively. Soil copper concentration showed significant positive correlations with surficial sediment copper concentration, thickness of surficial sediment and soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) in all three depths of the studied soils.