Incidencia de las escombreras de minas abandonadas sobre la contaminación por metales pesados de los suelos de la comarca de Linares (Jaén)

Resumen

Soil and sediment samples were collected during summer 1999 in nine locations from the Linares ore district (Jaén) in order to study the heavy meta transfers to the soil and fluvial systems. The highest metal concentrations in total Fe (22.000 mg/kg), Al (30.000-50.000 mg/kg) and Mn (2.500-4.000 mg/kg) occur in soils close to mine wastes and in bed sediments from the Cuadielriver; being quite higher than the background values obtained. Chemical analysis for bioavailable Fe, A l, M n, Z n and Pb have been developed in extraction experiments conducted on the samples. The results show differences in the distribution of metallic constituents contained in the water soluble fraction: Fe and A l contents are low and homogeneous, but it is not the casefor M n , Z n an d Pb. The highest values for soluble Mn (22 mg/kg) and Zn (0,4 mg/kg) are foundin sediments from the Cuadiel river, decreasing downstream , but maximum levels in soluble Pb( 0 ,1 mg/kg) appear related to eroded tailings. The most important implications of these finding sare in the long-term release and partitioning of pollutant metal species from historic metalliferousmine tailings within the terrestrial and fluvial environments