Enrichment Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Metal Elements in Soil-Vegetables around Antimony Mines.

To reveal the enrichment characteristics and health risks of potential harmful heavy metal elements (PTEs) in the soil-vegetable system around different antimony mine waste residue areas, three villages around different types of waste residue storage yards (antimony ore waste rock, antimony ore smelting slag, antimony ore tailings) and a village downstream of Lianxi River under the joint influence of waste residues are selected as the sampling areas, and taking the soil-vegetable system within the sampling areas as the research object. The enrichment characteristics and health risk assessment of six types of PTEs, including Sb, As, Hg, Pb, Cd, and Zn, in soil and vegetable samples are discussed using methods such as statistics, transfer coefficient analysis, and in vitro digestion simulation. The results shows that the average content of six PTEs in the soil exceed the soil background value and risk screening value of Hunan Province. All vegetable samples show weak uptake of soil PTEs with mean bioaccumulation coefficient values below 0.12. The biological transfer coefficients of Pb, Cd, and Zn in PTEs of vegetable samples all exceed 1.0. The exposure risk index for antimony is greater than 1.0 in all four sampling areas, presenting a significant health risk to humans. The index HI used to evaluate the hazard of composite pollution is greater than 2.0 in all four sampling areas, and the main PTEs pollutants are Sb and Pb, the composite pollution has been a health risk to human beings. Research has shown that the soil in the four sampling areas has been contaminated and enriched by various PTEs, and vegetables pose health risks to local residents, requiring special attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]