Alima BENTELLIS¹, Radia AZZOUG¹, Mohamed EL HADEF EL OKKI¹ & Oualida RACHED^1
1Constantine 1 University, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Laboratory of Biology and Environment, Route Ain el Bey, 25000 Constantine, Algeria. Email: alima.bentellis@yahoo.fr

TRACE ELEMENTS POLLUTION FROM AN ABANDONED MINE AND FACTORS AFFECTING ANTIMONY CONCENTRATIONS IN THE DAHIMINE WADI BANK SOILS (NORTHEAST ALGERIA)

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The Dahimine wadi starts on a mountain side (Djebel hamimat) where an abandoned antimony mine exists. A previous study indicated great amounts of antimony (Sb) in soils surrounding mine spoils. The objective of this research is, on one hand, to assess the extent of the contamination and/or pollution by Sb and other trace elements to a wadi part situated lower than the mining area. On the other hand, the aim is to determine factors that play a role in determining antimony accumulation in the studied wadi bank soils. For this purpose, several physic-chemical properties (particle size distribution, CaCO3, organic matter (OM), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), exchangeable sodium (ENa), exchangeable calcium (ECa), exchangeable magnesium (EMg) and exchangeable potassium (EK) contents, cation exchange capacity (CEC), pH and electrical conductivity (EC) and aqua regia extractable chemical elements Sb, As, Pb, Co, Cu, Cr, Cd, Zn, Fe, Mg, Ca and K were determined. Results show that the majority of soils are severely polluted by Sb and As whose maximal concentrations were respectively 2600 mg.kg^-1 and 450 mg.kg^-1. They are moderately contaminated by Pb and Zn that respectively reach 145 mg.kg^-1 and 324 mg.kg^-1. The results of forward stepwise regression analysis show that the most significant variables that explain the soil Sb concentration are, positively, As, ENa, sand, Cd and OM, and, negatively, EK and Zn. These results show that the Sb behaviour differs, partly, from that of the other trace elements, especially in calcareous and semi-arid environments.