• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.89-101
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• 2016

This study investigated spectral characteristics of heavy metal contaminated soil samples in the vicinity of abandoned Boksu mine. Heavy metal concentrations including arsenic, lead, zinc, copper and cadmium were analyzed by XRF analysis. As a result, all of the soil samples excluding control sample were over-contaminated based on the counter measure standard. The XRD results revealed that quartz, kaolinite and smectite were detected for all of the soil samples and heavy metals in soil were adsorbed on clay minerals such as kaolinite and smectite. The spectral analyses confirmed that spectral reflectance of near-infrared and shorter portion of shortwave-infrared spectrum decreases as heavy metal concentration increases. Moreover, absorption depths at 2312 nm and 2380 nm, the absorption features of clay minerals, decreases with higher heavy metal concentration indicating adsorption of heavy metal ions with clay minerals. It indicates that spectral features and heavy metal contamination of soil samples have high correlations.