« Back

Abstract: The mining activities from the northern area of Romania were carried out for years without a controlled measuring of pollution or any prevention actions. Thus, after 1995, an end was put to most of these activities. Suceava County, Romania, was highly polluted with heavy metals, especially copper resulted from mining activities. The current paper had the purpose to assess the influence of heavy metals generated in time by mining activities on the environmental quality of the studied area and, in order to do so, the method of global pollution index, in both its conventional and improved forms, was applied. The soil quality of the Mestecaniş area, namely the dump and its limits, was evaluated between 1996 and 2007, focusing on Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn and Ag. The main pollutants are heavy metals, especially copper, and the aim of this paper was to assess the influence of heavy metals on soil quality, so that the decision regarding further research could be made. Soil samples were analyzed between 1996 and 2007, during the mining activities and after these activities were stopped. The index of global pollution, calculated according to Rojanschi’s method (1991) and that of Popa et. al. (2005), showed that the degree of pollution is within admissible limits. The final results illustrated that the environment has been modified by industrial activities within admissible limits, corresponding to class B, which is concordant with Rojanshi’s method.

Keyword: mining industry, heavy metals, pollution, environmental impact and risk.