geosciences Article Selenium, Sulphur, Trace Metal, and BTEX Levels in Soil, Water, and Lettuce from the Croatian Raša Bay Contaminated by Superhigh-Organic-Sulphur Coal Gordana Meduni´c 1,*, Željka Kuhari´c 2, Adela Krivohlavek 2, Marija Đurokovi´c 3, Kristina Dropuˇci´c 3, Ankica Rađenovi´c 4, Borna Lužar Oberiter 1, Aleksandra Krizmani´c 5 and Mladen Bajramovi´c 6 1 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
[email protected] 2 Andrija Štampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
[email protected] (Ž.K.);
[email protected] (A.K.) 3 Department for Binders and Ecology, Institute IGH d.d., 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
[email protected] (M.Đ.);
[email protected] (K.D.) 4 Faculty of Metallurgy, University of Zagreb, 44000 Sisak, Croatia;
[email protected] 5 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
[email protected] 6 Istrian Coal Mines Raša (IUR), 21100 Raša, Croatia;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +385-1-4605-909 Received: 10 October 2018; Accepted: 6 November 2018; Published: 8 November 2018 Abstract: This paper elaborates soil, water, and lettuce contamination status with respect to selenium, sulphur, trace metals, and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) in a coal-based area (Raša Bay, Adriatic Sea, Croatia). A local coal-fired power plant polluted soil with S, Se, Cd, and PAHs due to the combustion of domestic superhigh-organic-sulphur coal. The locality is dotted with waste from coal mining/separation, coal combustion, former metal factories, untreated municipal and coal mine effluents, along with various harbour activities, which contribute to environmental contamination.