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Environmental geochemistry and ecological risk of vanadium pollution in Panzhihua mining and smelting area, Sichuan, China

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Abstract

Vanadium is a trace element widely distributed in the Earth’s crust. Naturally high levels of vanadium are recognized mainly in basic rocks and minerals, particularly in titaniferous magnetite. And the anthropogenic sources of vanadium include fossil fuel combustion and wastes including steel-industry slags. In the last few years, the authors have made investigations and assessments on the environmental geochemistry and ecological risk of vanadium in the Panzhihua mining and smelting area. In the study area, anthropogenic vanadium resulted from mining, extracting and smelting of V-Ti magnetite; vanadium pollution of topsoil and sediments occurs mainly in the mining and extracting area, smelting area, slag dumping area, tailing dam and coal mining area. In the soil, the chemical speciation of vanadium shows: insoluble residue > organically bound > Fe (amorphous) oxide-bound > Mn oxide-bound > soluble component. Vanadium pollution can cause potential harmful effects on ecological systems, and lead to animal poisoning and human disease. So vanadiam pollution should be monitored on a regular basis in the Panzhihua area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Sciences, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Teng Yanguo  (滕彦国), Wang Jinsheng  (王金生) & Lin Xueyu  (林学钰)

  2. Department of Geochemistry, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Ni Shijun  (倪师军), Zhang Chengjiang  (张成江) & Huang Yi  (黄艺)

Authors
  1. Teng Yanguo  (滕彦国)
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  2. Ni Shijun  (倪师军)
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  3. Zhang Chengjiang  (张成江)
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  4. Wang Jinsheng  (王金生)
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  5. Lin Xueyu  (林学钰)
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  6. Huang Yi  (黄艺)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teng Yanguo  (滕彦国).

Additional information

This study was granted by the China Ministry of Science and Technology under the program of “Ecological and Environmental Monitoring, Forecasting and Management System in the Mining Area” (No. 2004DIB3J110) and “Development and Experiment of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring and Forecasting Technology for the Mining Area” (No. 2005BA901A03).

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Teng, Y., Ni, S., Zhang, C. et al. Environmental geochemistry and ecological risk of vanadium pollution in Panzhihua mining and smelting area, Sichuan, China. Chin. J. of Geochem. 25, 379–385 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-006-0378-3

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