Distribution characteristics and risk of heavy metals and microbial community composition around the Wanshan mercury mine in Southwest China

Abstract

The Wanshan mercury (Hg) mine in Guizhou Province is one of the main Hg-producing mines in China, resulting in serious Hg pollution in soil and wastewater. Therefore, the present study is mainly aimed to investigate the current degree of heavy metal pollution and compared the microbial diversity in the Wanshan Hg mine and its surrounding environment. The results showed the distribution of the pollution load index values was low in the west and high in the east. The northwestern (Aozhai River), northern (Meizi Stream), and southwestern parts of the study area and the area surrounding Erkeng did not reach moderate pollution. Mercury accounted for the majority of the potential ecological risk index values, reaching 67.62%, while the proportions of Cd and As were 15.75% and 10.75%, respectively. Mercury was found mainly in a residual state, which had an average proportion of 71.09%. In the three regions, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria had the highest relative abundances. According to linear discriminant analysis effect size, the indicator species in the Hg mining area, woodland and cultivated land was f__67-14 (belonging to a family of Solirubrobacterales), Reyranellales and Reyranellaceae, Intrasporangiaceae, respectively. In summary, this study for the very first time estimated that the higher Hg, Cd and As pollution existed in Wanshan Hg mine since their concentration in the all soil samples totally exceeded the standard value (GB15618-2018), while Cd and As pollution in soil was commonly ignored by the previous study. The cultivated land had higher community richness than the mercury mining district and woodland. Our results suggested that the relevant local departments need to take more active measures to solve the problem of high levels of Hg, Cd, and As in the local soil, and prevent their adverse effects on humans.

Keywords: Heavy metal; Microbial diversity; Pollution load index; Potential ecological risk index; Wanshan mercury mining.