ABSTRACT
The coal is a dirty fuel, containing As and other heavy metals (HMs) at the trace levels. Several millions tons of coals are exploited in the Korba basin, CG, India to generate electricity. In this work, distribution of As and other HMs i.e. Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg in the surface soil and sediment are described. Three metals i.e. Mn, Fe and Ni occurred at higher concentrations, ranging (n= 30) from 2.3–6.4, 0.08–0.22 and 0.04–0.16% with mean value (p = 0.05) of 4.3 ± 0.4, 0.14 ± 0.02 and 0.08 ± 0.01%, respectively. The concentration 383of elements i.e. As, Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg in the soil was ranged (n= 30) from 49–164, 30–78, 44–131, 87–220, 0.11–0.56, 72–194 and 0.11–0.39 mg kg−1 with mean value (p = 0.05) of (p = 0.05) 106 ± 11, 51 ±5, 86 ±8,156 ± 10, 0.33 ± 0.04,130 ± 10 and 0.22 ± 0.03 mg kg−1, respectively. The concentration of the As in the sediments (n = 26) was ranged from 36–154 mg kg−1 with mean value of 93 ± 12 mg kg−1. The toxic inorganic As(III) and As(V) species are found to exist in the soil and sediment. The concentration variations, pollution indices and sources of the contaminants in the geomedia are discussed.
