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Elemental and Isotopic Approaches to Characterize Sources and Processes Controlling the Budgets of Toxic Metals in the Environment

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A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2021) | Viewed by 9167

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Dr. Romain Millot

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Guest Editor

BRGM – French Geological Survey - Water, Environment, Process Development and Analysis Division, 45060 Orléans, France
Interests: isotope geochemistry; water/rock interactions; lithium isotopes; metal isotopes; mineral resources

Prof. Dr. Jiubin Chen

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Guest Editor

School of Earth System Science, Institute of Surface-Earth System Science, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Nankai, Tianjin 300072, China
Interests: isotope geochemistry of trace metals; bio-geochemical cycles of trace elements; Hg speciation and isotopes; development of new geochemical or biogeochemical isotope tracer

Prof. Dr. David Widory

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Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), Montréal, QC H2L 2C4, Canada
Interests: isotope geochemistry; environment; pollution; air; soil; water
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent analytical developments of isotope systematics, with a special emphasis on metals and metalloids in the environment, have experienced an unprecedent increase over the past few years. The aim of this Special Issue is to explore methods, tracers, and research applications using innovative elemental and isotope systematics that will provide i) stronger constraints on the origin(s) and ii) a better characterization of the processes controlling the budgets of toxic metals in our environment (e.g., soil, sediment, water, air) at local and global scales in addition to the transfer of these metals to the food chain and the potential effect on human health.

Dr. Romain Millot
Prof. Dr. Jiubin Chen
Prof. David Widory
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

isotope geochemistry
metal pollutants
environment
biogeochemistry

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2061 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Contamination and Potential Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Farmland Soil around Nonferrous Metal Smeltery in North China

by Dongmei Han, Xiliang Li, Menglu Wang and Shuxuan Liang

Minerals 2021, 11(12), 1357; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11121357 - 30 Nov 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1443

Abstract

Nonferrous metallurgy is an important source of heavy metal in the environment and consequently poses potential risks to ecosystems. The impact of smelting on the surrounding envi-ronment is a concern. In this work, the content levels of selected heavy metals—chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As)—were investigated separately in soil samples collected around two nonferrous metal smelteries using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The spatial distribution characteristics of soil metal pollutants was studied by ArcGIS methods and the potential ecological risks were assessed by the Hakanson potential eco-logical hazard index. The results show that soils were heavily polluted by Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and As. Their mean contents in soil around Smeltery A were 88, 62, 103, 1200, 1.4, 146, and 69 mg/kg, respectively, and those around Smeltery B were 86, 59, 83, 117, 0.53, 57, and 65 mg/kg, respectively. Their contents were obviously higher than the background values of soil Cr (68 mg/kg), Ni (31 mg/kg), Cu (22 mg/kg), Zn (78 mg/kg), Cd (0.09 mg/kg), Pb (22 mg/kg), and As (14 mg/kg). The distribution pattern in soil and risk assessment results show that the pollution surrounding the two smelteries reached intense and moderate ecological hazard and that the contribution of Cd and As was up to 87.05% and 82.59%, respectively. These results suggest that metal smelting makes a considerable contribution to soil pollution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental and Isotopic Approaches to Characterize Sources and Processes Controlling the Budgets of Toxic Metals in the Environment)

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13 pages, 3360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Distribution and Pollution Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in Surface Sediments at the Drinking Water Source Channel of Taipu River in China

by Yue Wang, Feipeng Li, Lingchen Mao, Mengmeng Chen, Hong Tao and Jianhua Li

Minerals 2021, 11(11), 1202; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11111202 - 28 Oct 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1377

Abstract

With the integration strategy of the Yangtze River Delta rising to the height of the national strategy, it is crucial to ascertain pollution, ecological risks, and possible sources of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the sediments of the drinking water source channel Taipu River across the core demonstration zone. In this study, distribution, risk assessment, and source of 12 PTEs were investigated in sediment samples from the Taipu River. The concentrations of Mo, Cu, Cd, Ni, and Zn in the sediments of the Taipu River were generally 1.01–5.84 times higher than the background value of the soil from Jiangsu Province. The spatial distribution of PTEs presented differently upstream, middle, and downstream of the river. The values of

I_{g e o}

and

E F

showed moderate pollution at individual points, mainly due to Cd, Cu, and Mo. Except for Cd, the average potential ecological risk of other elements was low. Analysis of contamination source indicated that Cr, Ni, Tl, V, As, and Co were from natural sources while Zn, Mo, Cd, Pb, and Sb were associated with industrial activities. Copper was possibly derived from historic aquaculture activities along the Taipu River. Although the concentration of PTEs is generally low, particular attention should be given to Cd, Mo, and Cu as pollution sources. The results provide guidance for controlling PTEs pollution and protecting drinking water sources in the Taipu River. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental and Isotopic Approaches to Characterize Sources and Processes Controlling the Budgets of Toxic Metals in the Environment)

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20 pages, 2012 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Air Pollution Research Based on Spider Web and Parallel Continuous Particulate Monitoring—A Comparison Study Coupled with Identification of Sources

by Agnieszka Stojanowska, Tomasz Mach, Tomasz Olszowski, Jan Stefan Bihałowicz, Maciej Górka, Justyna Rybak, Małgorzata Rajfur and Paweł Świsłowski

Minerals 2021, 11(8), 812; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080812 - 27 Jul 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3039

Abstract

Air pollution is monitored mainly in urban or industrial areas, even if it is known that in rural ones, low emission can significantly worsen air quality. Hence, cheap and easily accessible methods of monitoring are needed. Recently, spider webs biomonitoring is getting popular, however, there is no information about its comparison with active methods. In this study, PTEs accumulated on spider webs were compared with results from continuous particulate monitor (CPM). Generally, higher potentially toxic elements concentrations were noted in spider web, with exception in the case of Zn. Zn may be present rather in smaller fractions, hence it needs more time for accumulation on spider web while it is easily collected by CPM. Higher concentrations of other elements on spider webs may result from formation of aggregates which could not be reported in PM₁₀ sampling (CPM). What is more, the order of the most and the least accumulated elements were similar and the percentage share of studied elements was coherent in most cases, proving that this new tool prospers to become commonly used in biomonitoring. Additionally, to identify possible sources of pollution air backward trajectories and trajectory frequencies for Kotórz were prepared based on the HYSPLIT model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental and Isotopic Approaches to Characterize Sources and Processes Controlling the Budgets of Toxic Metals in the Environment)

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17 pages, 2300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dissolution, Stability and Solubility of Tooeleite [Fe₆(AsO₃)₄(SO₄)(OH)₄·4H₂O] at 25–45 °C and pH 2–12

by Zongqiang Zhu, Jun Zhang, Yinian Zhu, Jie Liu, Shen Tang, Lihao Zhang and Yaru Wang

Minerals 2020, 10(10), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10100921 - 19 Oct 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2512

Abstract

Tooeleite [Fe₆(AsO₃)₄(SO₄)(OH)₄·4H₂O] was synthesized and characterized to investigate its possible immobilization for arsenic in acidic and alkali environments by a long-term dissolution of 330 d. The synthetic tooeleite was platy crystallites of ~1μm across, giving the lattice parameters of a = 6.4758 Å, b = 19.3737 Å and c = 8.9170 Å. For the tooeleite dissolution, the dissolved arsenic concentration showed the lowest value of 427.3~435.8 mg/L As at initial pH 12 (final pH 5.54). The constituents were dissolved preferentially in the sequence of SO₄²⁻ > AsO₃³⁻ > Fe³⁺ in the aqueous medium at initial pH 2–12. The dissolved iron, arsenite and sulfate existed mainly as FeSO₄⁺/Fe³⁺, H₃AsO₃⁰ and SO₄²⁻ at initial pH 2, and in the form of Fe(OH)₃⁰/Fe(OH)₂⁺, H₃AsO₃⁰ and SO₄²⁻ at initial pH 12, respectively. The tooeleite dissolution was characterized by the preferential releases of SO₄²⁻ anions from solid surface into aqueous medium, which was fundamentally controlled by the Fe-O/OH bond breakages and the outer OH⁻ group layers. From the data of the dissolution at 25 °C and initial pH 2 for 270–330 d, the ion-activity product [logˍIAP], which equaled the solubility product [K_sp] at the dissolution equilibrium, and the Gibbs free energy of formation [ΔG_f^o] were estimated as −200.28 ± 0.01 and −5180.54 ± 0.07 kJ/mol for the synthetic tooeleite, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elemental and Isotopic Approaches to Characterize Sources and Processes Controlling the Budgets of Toxic Metals in the Environment)

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