• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 1995

Chemical assessment of soil pollution with heavy metals was made by analyzing the changes in pH, ionic strength, cationic concentration and chemical species in the soil solution. Saturated pastes of the unpolluted soils were made by adding solutions containing Cu or Cd and the final Cu or Cd concentrations were in the range of 0 to 400 mg/kg. After equilibrating for 24 hours at $25^{\circ}C$, the soil solution was extracted from the saturated pastes by the vacuum extraction method and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, Cu, Cd, cations and inorganic ligands. Chemical species in soil solution were calculated by the GEOCHEM-PC program employing the input variables of pH, ionic strength(${\mu}$), molar concentrations of cations and ligands. Increasing Cu or Cd additions lowered pH of the soil solution but increased concentrations of Ca, Mg and K resulting in increases of ${\mu}$ of the soil solution. Effects of Cu on lowering pH and increasing ${\mu}$ were greater than those of Cd. Concentrations of Cu or Cd in soil solution were relatively very low as compared to those of additions, but increased linearly with increasing additions representing that concentrations of Cu were higher than those of Cd. At 400 mg/kg additions, concentrations of Cu were in the range of 0.51 to 11.70 mg/L but those of Cd were 34.4 to 88.5 mg/L. Major species of Ca, Mg and K were free ions and these species were equivalent to greater than 95 molar % of the existing respective molar concentrations. These cationic species were not changed by Cu or Cd additions. Major species of Cu in lower pH soils such as SiCL and SL were free $Cu^{2+}$ (>95 molar %), but those in LS having a higher pH were free $Cu^{2-}$ and Cu-hydroxide complex. At 100 mg Cu/kg treatment, $Cu^{2+}$ and Cu-hydroxide complex were equivalent to 73 and 22.4 molar %, respectively. These respective percentages were decreased and increased correspondingly with increasing Cu treatments. Major species of Cd in soil solution were free $Cd^{2+}$ and Cd-chloride complex, representing 79 to 85 molar % for $Cd^{2+}$ and 13 to 20% for Cd-chloride complex at 10 mg Cd/kg treatment. With increasing Cd additions to 400 mg/kg, $Cd^{2+}$ species decreased to $40{\sim}47%$ but Cd-chloride complexes increased to $53{\sim}60$ molar %. These results demonstrated that soil contamination with heavy metals caused an adverse effect on the plant nutritional aspects of soil solution by lowering pH, increasing cations temporarily, and increasing free metal concentrations and species enough to be phytotoxic.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.756-766
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• 2011

In order to investigate the degree of apartment parking lot dust contamination, total 72 samples of parking lot dust (36 from ground parking lots and 36 from the underground parking lots) were collected in Daegu city from the end of March to the early June 2010. The dust samples were sieved below $100{\mu}m$, and analysed by ICP for 14 elements after an acid extraction. Results obtained from the source assessment of trace element using enrichment factor showed that Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V were influenced by natural sources, while Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were influenced by anthropogenic sources in both the ground parking lot and the underground parking lot. And results showed that Ca were influenced by natural sources in the ground parking lot, but influenced by anthropogenic sources in the underground parking lot. The measured values were remarkably higher in components from natural sources than in components from anthropogenic sources. Underground parking lot dust was more affected by anthropogenic sources and contaminated compared with the ground parking lot dust. Pollution index of heavy metals revealed that underground parking lot dust was 5.5 times more contaminated with heavy metal components than the ground parking lot dust. The results of correlation analysis among trace elements indicated that components in the ground parking lot were more correlated than those in the underground parking lot, and especially more correlated with natural sources-natural sources. Analysis for correlations between components and influencing factors in the underground parking lot showed that concentrations of heavy metals were higher with smaller number of parking spaces and no ventilation system, and older apartments in last paint and cleaning had relatively higher contents of heavy metals than those of recently painted and cleaned.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.39-53
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• 2001

Environmental pollution of the Tohyun mine creek area was investigated on the basis of geology, mineralogy and geochemistry. In soils and sediments of the mine area, ${Al_2}{O_3}/{Na_2O}$ and ${K_2}O/{Na_2}O$ ratios are partly negative correlation against ${SiO_2}/{Al_2}{O_3}$, respectively. Geochemical characteristics of some trace and rare earth elements such as V/Ni, Ni/Co, La/Ce, Th/Yb, Th/U, La/Th, ${La_N}/{Yb_N}$, La/Sc and Sc/Th are revealed a narrow range and homogeneous compositions may be explained by simple source lithology. These results suggest that sediments source of the host shale around the mine area could be originated by basic to intermediate igneous rocks. Mineral compositions of soil and sediment near the mine area were partly variable mineralogy, which are composed of quartz, mica, feldspar, chlorite, clay minerals and some pyrite. Soils and sediments with highly concentrated heavy minerals, gravity separated mineralogy, are composed of some pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, goethite and various kinds of hydroxide minerals on the polished sections. As normalized by bed rock composition, average enrichment indices of major elements in sediments, precipitates, farmland soils and paddy soils are 1.0, 1.7, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. Maximum concentration of environmental toxic elements in the mine creek are detected with Ag = 186 ppm, As = 17,100 ppm, Bi = ]27 ppm, Cd = 77 ppm, Cu = 12,299 ppm, Pb = 8,897 ppm, Sb = 1,350 ppm, W = 599 ppm and Zn = 12,250 ppm, which are increasing with total FeO increasing, and extremely high concentrations of surface sediments and precipitates near the waste rock dump. These toxic elements (As, Bi, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, W and Zn) of the samples, normalizing by host rock concentration, revealed that average enrichment index is 106.0 for sediments, 279.6 for precipitates, 3.5 for farmland soils and 1.6 for paddy soils. However, on the basis of EPA values, enrichment indices of all the samples are 40.7, 121.4, 1.3 and 0.6, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.325-337
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• 2002

We examined the contamination of stream water and stream sediments by heavy metal elements with respect to distance from the abandoned Backun Au-Ag-Cu mine. High contents of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Mn, and Fe) and aluminum in the waters connected with mining and associated deposits (dumps, tailings) reduce water quality. In the mining area, Ca and SO$_4$ are predominant cation and anion. The mining water is Ca-SO$_4$ type and is enriched in heavy metals resulted from the weathering of sulfide minerals. This mine drainage water is weakly acid or neutral (pH; 6.5-7.1) because of neutralizing effect by other alkali and alkaline earth elements. The effluent from the mine adit is also weakly acid or neutral, and contains elevated concentrations of most elements due to reactions with ore and gangue minerals in the deposit. The concentration of ions in the Backun mining water is high in the mine adit drainage water and steeply decreased award to down stream. Buffering process can be reasonably considered as a partial natural control of pollution, since the ion concentration becomes lower and the pH value becomes neutralized. In order to evaluate mobility and bioavailability of metals, sequential extraction was used for stream sediments into five operationally defined groups: exchangeable, bound to carbonates, bound to FeMn oxide, bound to organic matter, and residual. The residual fraction was the most abundant pool for Cu(2l-92%), Zn(28-89%) and Pb(23-94%). Almost sediments are low concentrated with Cd(2.7-52.8 mg/kg) than any other elements. But Cd dominate with non stable fraction (68-97%). Upper stream sediments are contaminated with Pb, and down area sediments are enriched with Zn. It is indicate high mobility of Zn and Cd.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.587-604
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• 2007

In order to investigate the vertical variations and speciations of trace elements, and their correlations in Hoidong reservoir, sediment cores (21-41 cm below surface) and interstitial water samples were collected from five sampling locations. The total average concentrations of trace metals in sediment core samples were $232{\pm}30.8mg/kg$ for Zn, $119{\pm}272mg/kg$ for Cu, $58.4{\pm}4.1mg/kg$ for Pb, $15.7{\pm}3.3mg/kg$ for Ni and $1.6{\pm}0.3mg/kg$ for Cd. The total concentrations of trace metals in core sediments generally decreased toward the center of the Hoidong reservoir. The total concentrations of Mn, Pb and Zn decreased with depth for all the sample locations, while Cu and Fe concentrations increased. The trace metal concentrations of interstitial water sample were in the order of Fe>Mn>Cu>Zn, but Cd, Ni and Pb were not detected. The concentrations of Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn in the interstitial water samples showed a tendency of increasing toward the bottom of the core, suggesting a possible upward diffusion. This migration of trace metals may lead to their transfer to the sediment-water interface. These trace elements would be subsequently fixed onto amorphous Fe and Mn-oxides and carbonates in the topmost layer of sediment. Based on the $K_D$ values, the relative mobilities of the studied metals were in the order of Mn>Cu>Zn>Fe. Geochemical partitioning confirmed that surface enrichment by trace metals mainly resulted from a progressive increase of the concentrations in the fractions II and III. Copper, Fe, Mn and Zn concentrations of interstitial water were closely correlated with their exchangeable fractions of sediments.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.651-660
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• 2007

Acid drainage has been recognized as an environmental concern in abandoned mine sites for long time. Recently, the environmental and structural damage by acid drainage is a current issue in construction sites in Korea. Here, the author introduces the type of damages by acid drainage in construction sites and emphasizes the importance of geoscience discipline in solving the problem. Metasedimentary rock of Okcheon group, coal bed of Pyeongan group, Mesozoic volcanic rock. and Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks are the major rock types with a high potential for acid drainage upon excavation in Korea. The acid drainage causes the acidification and heavy metal contamination of soil, surface water and groundwater, the reduction of slope stability, the corrosion of slope structure, the damage on plant growth, the damage on landscape and the deterioration of concrete and asphalt pavement. The countermeasure for acid drainage is the treatment of acid drainage and the prevention of acid drainage. The treatment of acid drainage can be classified into active and passive treatments depending on the degree of natural process in the treatment. Removal of oxidants, reduction of oxidant generation and encapsulation of sulfide are employed for the prevention of acid drainage generation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.395-401
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• 2010

This research was carried out as a survey on the contents of Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) in 5 type agricultural products unestablished safety guideline in Korea. The average levels of Pb: onion 0.010 mg/kg, cucumber 0.018 mg/kg, garlic 0.012 mg/kg, green pepper 0.027 mg/kg, sesame 0.029 mg/kg. The average levels of Cd: onion 0.006 mg/kg, cucumber 0.002 mg/kg, garlic 0.008 mg/kg, green pepper 0.011 mg/kg, sesame 0.024 mg/kg. The present result of this study showed that Pb and Cd contents in the whole samples were less than the maximum residual levels of the codex standard. The levels of exposure assessment for Pb and Cd by intake from vegetables and sesame were merely at $1.3{\times}10^{-4}$(mean) ~ $5.1{\times}10^{-4}$($95^{th}$ percentiles) ${\mu}$g/kg bw/day for Pb, $7.5{\times}10^{-5}$(mean) ~ $3.6{\times}10^{-4}$($95^{th}$ percentiles) ${\mu$}g/kg bw/day for Cd. The data from this research will be valuable source for database construction for science-based safety control and management for the trace metal contamination in food including agricultural products.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.288-297
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• 2010

This study was to evaluate the ecological stream health through the Multimetric Fish Assessment Index (MFAI) along with fish fauna analysis based on the tolerance and trophic guilds at Miho stream in 2008 and 2009. Also, we analysed total mercury concentration in fish tissues to examine heavy metal contamination. Total sampled fish were 40 species and 2,557 individuals and Zacco platypus was the most dominant with 35% relative abundance. It was sampled with 11.4% RA for Korean endemic species (10 species 291 individuals) less than average RA 39.3% for the Geum river watersheds. According to the tolarance guild analysis, tolerant species was more dominant with 58.9% RA (15 species, 1,507 individuals) than sensitive species with 6.6% RA. Trophic guild analysis also suggested that omnivores were more dominant (60.5% RA) than insectivores (31.5% RA). Riffle-benthic species was also sampled with 7.7% RA. Ecological stream health based on the MFAI were averaged 25.3 (n=3) with fair-poor condition in 2008 and also 26.3 (n=3) with fair condition in 2009, just slightly increased than 2008. Qualitative habitat evaluation index was averaged 134 (n=3) with fair condition but most of sites had sediment accumulation that reflected substrate degradations proceeding. From the result of total mercury accumulation in fish tissues, kidney and liver tissues showed the highest but the lowest for gill tissues. Overall mercury concentration were not exceed the national standards by Korean Federation of Drug and Administration (KFDA). Consequently, our result could correspond with the characteristics of Miho stream where point sources such industrial complexes and wastewater treatment plant widely distributed around the stream along the gradient of up and downstream.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 2000

Adsorption onto the surfaces of solid particles is a well known phenomenon that causes the retardation effect of heavy metals in soils. For adequate remediation of soil and groundwater contamination, it is important to investigate the mobility of heavy metals that largely depends on pH conditions in the soil water since adsorption of heavy metals is pH-dependent. In this study, we investigated the transport of Zn ion under various pH conditions in a sandy soil by conducting batch and column tests. The batch test was performed using the standard procedure of equilibrating fine fractions collected from the soil with eleven different initial $ZnCl_2$ concentrations, and analysis of Zn ion in the equilibrated solutions using ICP-AES. The column test consisted of monitoring the concentrations of soil solutions exiting the soil column with time known as a breakthrough curve (BTC). We injected respectively $ZnCl_2$ and KCl solutions with the concentration of 10 g/L as a tracer in a square pulse type under three different pH conditions (7.7, 5.8, 4.1) and monitored the flux concentration at the exit boundary using an EC meter and ICP-AES. The resident concentration was also monitored at the 10cm-depth by Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR). The results of batch test showed that ion exchange process between Zn and other cations (Ca, Mg) was predominant. The retardation coefficients obtained from adsorption isotherms (Linear, Freundlich, Langmuir) resulted in the various values ranging from 1.2 to 614.1. No retardation effect but ion exchange was found for the BTCs under all pH conditions. This can be explained by the absence of other cations to desorb Zn ion from soil exchange sites under the conditions of ETC experiment imposing blank water as leachate in steady-state flow. As pH decreased, the peak concentration of Zn increased due to the competition of Zn with hydrogen ions ($H^+$) and the concentrations of other cations decreased. The peak concentration of Zn was increased by 12.7 times as pH decreased from 7.7 to 4.1.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.453-459
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• 2018

This study was performed to investigate the contamination levels of heavy metals (such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury) and aflatoxin (such as $B_1$, $B_2$, $G_1$ and $G_2$) in commercial herbs for food and medicine. The concentrations of the heavy metals were measured by the ICP-MS and a mercury analyzer. The aflatoxins were analyzed by a HPLC-florescence coupled with photochemical derivatization. The detection ranges of the lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury were found to be 0.006~4.088 mg/kg, 0.002~2.150 mg/kg, ND~0.610 mg/kg and ND~0.0139 mg/kg respectively. Among the total samples, the 3 samples (2.6%) were not suitable for the specification of cadmium by the MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). The 13 samples of the total 117 samples were aflatoxin positive (11.1%). The amount of aflatoxin $G_1$ was $0.7834{\mu}g/kg$ in the Puerariae Radix and aflatoxin $G_2$ were $0.3517{\mu}g/kg$, $0.4881{\mu}g/kg$ in two samples of the Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, respectively. The aflatoxins $B_2$ and $G_1$ were simultaneously detected in the 10 Angelicae Gigantis Radix. The detection ranges of aflatoxins $B_2$ and $G_1$ were $0.2324{\sim}1.0358{\mu}g/kg$ and $0.7552{\sim}1.6545{\mu}g/kg$ respectively in Angelicae Gigantis Radix. The results of the current study suggest that continuous monitoring is needed for the proactive management of commercial herbs for food and medicine safety.