Accumulation and distribution of heavy metals in soil and food crops in the Pb–Zn mine environ. Case study: Region of Probištip, North Macedonia

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the exploration and distribution of various chemical elements in soils and vegetables from gardens in the region of Probištip, North Macedonia. This region was exposed to heavy metals pollution from Pb–Zn mining and flotation tailings landfill near the town of Probištip for 70 years. A total of 38 samples of various crops and vegetable products from 19 gardens were analyzed. The analyzes were carried out by ICP-AES (Al, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Sr, V, and Zn) and by ICP-MS (As, Cd, Co, Cr, and Pb). It was found that the content of some potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in the soil samples from the gardens, exceeded the target values. From these results, it is clear that the contamination of the soils in this area is due to mining activities and the distribution of flotation wastes from the nearby flotation dump. It was also found that the contaminated soils lead to elevated levels of these elements in some vegetables from the gardens, especially those near the Zletovska River and the flotation waste landfill, exceeding the nationally permissible food content.

Keywords:

• soil
• vegetable
• cereal
• heavy metals
• pollution
• ICP-AES and ICP-MS
• North Macedonia

Author Contributions

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: conceptualization: T.S.; methodology: T.S.; sampling: K.S.; investigation: T.S., K.S., K.T., and K.B.A.; writing—original draft preparation: K.B.A.; writing—review and editing: K.B.A. and T.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Data Availability statement

The datasets used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.