Black Carbon and Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) and heavy metals (HM s ) are of great interest to researchers due to their hazardous impact on the environment. Coal is a dirty fuel and its huge exploitation (mining and combustion) causes serious pollution of the environment. In this work, the contamination by BC and HM s of the soil of the coal basin in Korba, India, was evaluated. Higher concentrations of BC and Fe were detected in the soil samples, ranging (n = 9) from 4.5-7.3 and 4.1-9.3% with mean value of 5.5 and 6.6%, respectively. Concentrations of As, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Hg in the surface soil (n = 9) ranged from 91-116, 88-109, 2,423-5,063, 140-479, 128-377, 1.25-2.73, 858-4,973, and 0.88-2.37 mg kg -1 with values of 1015, 985, 3409721, 22972, 22748, 1.840.35, 2068882, and 1.450.33 mg kg -1 , respectively. Among HM s , Pb is extremely enriched in the soil. The main sources of HMs in the soil apportioned are coal burning and mining.