Human health risk via soil ingestion of potentially toxic elements and remediation potential of native plants near an abandoned mine spoil in Ghana

Albert Kobina Mensah; Bernd Marschner; Vasileios Antoniadis; Eric Stemn; Sabry M Shaheen; Jörg Rinklebe

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149272

Human health risk via soil ingestion of potentially toxic elements and remediation potential of native plants near an abandoned mine spoil in Ghana

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Dec 1:798:149272. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149272. Epub 2021 Jul 24.

Authors

Albert Kobina Mensah¹, Bernd Marschner², Vasileios Antoniadis³, Eric Stemn⁴, Sabry M Shaheen⁵, Jörg Rinklebe⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Soil Science and Soil Ecology, Institute of Geography, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Strasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany.. Electronic address: albert.mensah@rub.de.
² Department of Soil Science and Soil Ecology, Institute of Geography, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Strasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany.. Electronic address: bernd.marschner@rub.de.
³ Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Greece.
⁴ Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Ghana. Electronic address: estemn@umat.edu.gh.
⁵ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment, and Arid Land Agriculture, Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; University of Kafrelsheikh, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil and Water Sciences, 33 516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt. Electronic address: shaheen@uni-wuppertal.de.
⁶ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Environment, Energy and Geoinformatics, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Seoul, Republic of Korea; International Research Centre of Nanotechnology for Himalayan Sustainability (IRCNHS), Shoolini University, Solan 173212, Himachal Pradesh, India. Electronic address: rinklebe@uni-wuppertal.de.

PMID: 34333437
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149272

Abstract

Integrated studies about potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in sites near gold mining spoils, their contamination and human health risk, as well as remediation potential of native plants are limited. Therefore, our aim was to assess the human health risk of PTEs (Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Ti, V, and Zn) in sites near an abandoned gold mine spoil in Ghana. We collected 52 soil samples near the mine spoil and from a natural forest, determined their total element contents, and calculated the soil contamination factor (CF), enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (I_geo) and the pollution load index (PLI). In addition, we calculated the human health risk of soil ingestion for adult males, females, and children using the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI). We also assessed the phytoremediation potential of five native plants (Alchornea cordifolia, Chromolaena odorata, Lantana camara, Pityrogramma calomelanos- fern, and Pueraria montana) growing near the mine spoil, and calculated their transfer coefficient (TC) and translocation factor (TF). Total content of As (maximum: 3144.0 mg/kg) surpassed the trigger action value of 65 mg/kg. Total Zn content at 90th percentile in the Pueraria field (197 mg/kg) and maximum value at mine surrounding (76.7 mg/kg) were above the world soil average (70 mg/kg). Pollution load index and EF values indicated severe levels of soil contamination particularly with As and Ti. Hazard index (HI) values for all sites for children (0.7-134.56), adult males (0.05-10.6), and adult females (0.13-12.77) were above 1 and indicated high human health risk especially on children and women. Translocation factor shows that native plant species such as Chromolaena odorata and fern accumulated As, Cu, Ti, and Zn into their shoots and may thus have the potential to reduce the high soil contamination and its associated human health risk.

Keywords: Human health risk; Mining; Multi-element contamination; Phytoextraction; Potentially toxic elements.

MeSH terms

Adult
Biodegradation, Environmental
Child
Eating
Environmental Monitoring
Ghana
Humans
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Soil
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Metals, Heavy
Soil
Soil Pollutants