The findings of this study indicated that the historical mining village of Kaňk is highly contaminated by As, Cu, Pb, and Zn, of which As is the most significant contaminant. Despite the high concencentration of As in mining wastes (∼1.15 wt.%), urban soils (∼0.3 wt.%), and road dusts (∼ 440 mg/kg), risk was associated only with mining waste and contaminated soil material via oral exposure (not the inhalation pathway)

Drahota P., Raus K., Rychlíková E., Rohovec J. (2018): Bioaccessibility of As, Cu, Pb, and Zn in mine waste, urban soil, and road dust in the historical mining village of Kaňk, Czech Republic. Environmental Geochemistry and Health 40, 1495-1512. (DOI)

The re-measurement of mercury (Hg) concentrations in archived environmental samples (soils, peats) after several years of storage indicated that there is no statistical difference between new measurements and original data. As a result, archived samples can be used to evaluate historical soil mercury contamination.

Navrátil T., Burns D. A., Nováková T., Kaňa J., Rohovec J., Roll M., Ettler V. (2018): Stability of mercury concentration measurements in archived soil and peat samples. Chemosphere 208, 707-711. (DOI)

A combination of multiple techniques including XAS and isotopes helped to decipher the mobility of Tl in mining-polluted desert soil in Namibia. Mechanical transport of fine particles of post-flotation tailings is probably responsible for Tl dispersion in soil profiles.

Grösslová Z., Vaněk A., Oborná V., Mihaljevič M., Ettler V., Trubač J., Drahota P., Penížek V., Pavlů L., Sracek O., Kříbek B., Voegelin A., Göttlicher J., Drábek O., Tejnecký V., Houška J., Mapani B., Zádorová T. (2018): Thallium contamination in desert soil in Namibia: Chemical, mineralogical and isotopic insights. Environmental Pollution 239, 272-280. (DOI)

A first long-term (2 years) field experiment indicated how As and other metal(loid) contaminants can be released from As-rich copper smelter flue dust after deposition in contrasting soils. Up to 72% of As was leached out from the flue dust after incubation. The majority of As became highly mobile and could represent a risk for individual environmental compartments (soil, water).

Jarošíková A., Ettler V., Mihaljevič M., Penížek V., Matoušek T., Culka A., Drahota P. (2018): Transformation of arsenic-rich copper smelter flue dust in contrasting soils: A 2-year field experiment. Environmental Pollution 237, 83-92. (DOI)

We published first Cu isotope data in pine tree rings and surrounding polluted and unpolluted soils in the Zambian Copperbelt. In highly polluted soil profiles, there is greater Cu isotope fractionation and Cu isotope compositions in tree rings indicate that there was a non-root uptake of Cu uptake by the trees.

Mihaljevič M., Jarošíková A., Ettler V., Vaněk A., Penížek V., Kříbek B., Chrastný V., Sracek O., Trubač J., Svoboda M., Nyambe I. (2018): Copper isotopic record in soils and tree rings near a copper smelter, Copperbelt, Zambia. Science of the Total Environment 621, 9-17. (DOI)

Check the great paper by Petr Drahota and co-authors about low-temperature formation of As sulphides, which has just been published in GCA! Drahota P., Mikutta C., Falteisek L., Duchoslav V., Klementová M. (2017): Biologically induced formation of realgar deposits in soil. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 218, 237-256. (DOI).

We studied how thallium isotopes can be used for tracing anthropogenic pollution in soils contaminated by emissions from coal-fired power plants. These results are the first published isotope data generated by our brand new MC-ICP-MS lab. Vaněk A., Grosslova Z., Mihaljevič M., Trubač J., Ettler V., Teper L., Cabala J., Rohovec J., Zadorova T., Penizek V., Pavlu L., Holubik O., Nemecek K., Houska J., Drabek O., Ash C. (2016): Isotopic Tracing of Thallium Contamination in Soils Affected by Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants. Environmental Science and Technology 50, 9864-9871. (DOI)

In the footsteps of previous research on zýkaite (Majzlan J., Amoako F.Y., Kindlová H., Drahota P. (2015): Thermodynamic properties of zýkaite, a ferric sulfoarsenate. Applied Geochemistry 61, 294-301, DOI) we published in Hydrometallurgy new thermodynamic data for FeAsO4·0.75H2O: Majzlan J., Dachs E., Benisek A., Drahota P. (2016): Thermodynamic properties of FeAsO4·0.75H2O – a more favorable disposable product of low As solubility. Hydrometallurgy 164, 136-140 (DOI).

Mobility of metal(loid)s in soils is strongly affected by their binding to solids. We studied smelter- and mining-derived particulates with high levels of metals and metalloids (As, Sb) and their stability in soils from dry semi-arid and wet subtropical areas in Africa. Ettler V., Johan Z., Kříbek B., Veselovský F., Mihaljevič M., Vaněk A., Penížek V., Majer V., Sracek O., Mapani B., Kamona F., Nyambe I. (2016): Composition and fate of mine- and smelter-derived particles in soils of humid subtropical and hot semi-arid areas. Science of the Total Environment 563-564, 329-339. (DOI)

A new open-access review paper, published within a special issue of Applied Geochemistry can also be downloaded from the website of our group: Ettler V. (2016): Soil contamination near non-ferrous metal smelters: A review. Applied Geochemistry 64, 56-74. (PDF)