Spatial Distribution of Heavy Metals Around the Gold Mine Ore Tailings of Hatti, Karnataka State, India
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DOI: 10.21120/LE/11/1/4 Landscape & Environment 11 (1) 2017. 35-44 SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF HEAVY METALS AROUND THE GOLD MINE ORE TAILINGS OF HATTI, KARNATAKA STATE, INDIA HARISH ETIGEMANE RAMAPPA – DAVID MUNISWAMY* Environmental Biology and Molecular Toxicology Laboratory-2, Department of Zoology, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India 580003 *corresponding author, email: [email protected] Received 5 May 2017, accepted in revised form 12 December 2017 Abstract Mining is an imperative segment of the world economy as it contributes socio-economic status of the whichnations. greatly However, affect developing the environmental countries and like human India duehealth. to lack The ofpresent high profile work is industrial aimed with techniques the distribu and- tionequipment, of heavy eluting metals effluents in and around from theHatti industrial Gold Mine process Ore Tailing may (H-GOT).contain variousThe results hazardous elicit the substances mine ore tailings are having high-level contaminants of heavy metal than the crop lands of Hatti (Hs), Kotha (Ks), Chikka Nagur (Cs), Tawag (Ts), Lingsugur (Ls) of Raichur District, Karnataka. It was reported that, Hatti Gold Mine ore tailings hold about 41.31±0.49 mg/kg, 2.1±0.31mg/kg, 71.96±3.26 mg/kg, 39.56±1.47 mg/kg and 73.4±2.19 mg/kg of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) heavy metals respectively. While the crop lands metal contamination range depends on seasonal variation. In south-west monsoon farming lands metal contamination order is Hs> Ks>Cs> Ts >Ls, and it was de- creased during Post-monsoon. This is the hallmark of the fetching huge amount of toxic heavy metals disorders.from mining center to nearest crop lands. The continuous squeezing of these toxic metals could trigger the bio-magnification in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem and it may impact various metabolic Keywords: Atomic Absorption Spectra (AAS), Gold Ore Tailing, Heavy metals, Inductive Coupled Plasma- Optical Emission Spectra (ICP-OES), Post-Monsoons, South-West monsoons 1. Introduction results in overburden of the ore tailings (Rao and Reddy 2005), discharge of tailing Mining is the foremost supplier of revenue leachate into in and around the mining sites, to the nations. Akpalu and Normanyo additionally to those government owing (2017) rumored that owing to lack of investment in industrial sectors of the third supplyactivities of environmentallike mineral effluents pollution. implicate Moreover, as worldhigh profile countries, equipment they attracted and public the private/ capital pollutantsfertilizers carried(Kumar, out 2013) by mining are the activities foremost in foreign capitalist by compromising with the developing countries remains controversial, environmental standards. This insight leads since it may impact hugely on the cultural, to high-level pollution in mining sites and physical and socio-economic status of the encompassing atmosphere. In developing local people (Verma et al. 2012; Harish and David 2015; Mustak et al. 2015). mining resulted waste were dropped publicly In India, Karnataka is one of the countries like India, a substantial quantity of open space with none contraceptives (David major historical backgrounds in mining. et al. 2015; Harish and David, 2015) that 36 Landscape & Environment 11 (1) 2017. 35-44 Throughout their mining, once extracting the 2013; Basavarajappa and Manjunatha 2015). left out solid wastes were omitted without Onoand livelihoodet al. (2012), (Rao andCobbinal Reddy et2005; al. Hazard(2013) beingspecified used. parts These from solid the well-minedwastes do ore,contain the reported that, gold ore dumps are the major an appreciable amount of micronutrient, source of xenobiotic contamination through heavy metal and other noxious elements weathering of the heap waste materials, which (Harish and David 2017). Oftenly, this solid results the discharge of toxic chemicals such waste fetches its toxicants to adjoining as cadmium, lead, copper, arsenic, selenium, environments through leachate, run-off, and mercury. However, most of the work was atmospheric fallout and wind erosion leads meted out on a spacial distribution of heavy to a potential risk to the environment as well as human health (Armienta et al. 2003; surface water and underground water source Jung 2008; Sisodia 2013). Several authors (Smithmetals etand al. 2000;other Caldwell xenobiotics et al. 2006;in effluents, Mishra reported that gold mine industries may et al. 2010; Ato 2010; Corriveau et al. 2011; degrade the natural setting, human health Bempah et al. 2013) very little work was Fig. 1. Sampling sites of Goldmine ore tailing and farmland soil samples a). Sampling sites from the Hatti Gold Mine Ore Tailing (H-GOT) collected from the New Plot of H-GOT. b). Sampling sites in around the location (0.5 km to 5 km) of Hatti Mine Ore tailings, Hatti(Hs), Kotha (Ks), Chikka Nagur (Cs), Tawag (Ts), Lingusugur (Ls) farmland soil. Sources: Figure was collected from Google Map Source 37 Sample Collection presentcarried outstudy in the distinguishes field of mine fromore tailing previous and collected from the plot-II of new plot from reportsits impact on on Hatti the Goldmine,agricultural because field. Hence, there theare theAbout Hatti Goldfive Minesore tailingore tailings sample (H-GOT), were no reports available on seasonal variation of depicted in (Fig. 1A) and the farm/cropland heavy metal in and around of Hatti. However, (Fig. 1B) soil sampling was carried out in this probe is to assess the physic-chemical the South-West monsoon months and Post- properties of Hatti gold mine ore tailing and monsoon months respectively. Triplicate farming lands of near villages of Hatti, gives samples were collected in farm land sites an idea about mining activity and its impacts on heavy metal pollution. This study was carried out in two season’s i.e. south-west with a fine polyether bags from each farming monsoon months and post-monsoon months. land of Hatti (16˚18’12”N; 76˚65’46”E), Kotha (16˚22’899”N; 76˚64’06”E), Chikka 2. Materials and Methods Nagur (16˚18’12”; 76˚67’48”E) Tawag Karnataka,(16˚21’22”N; India. 76˚69’89”E) From each andsampling Lingsugur point (16˚14’21”N;76˚52’60”E) of Raichur District, Physiography and Topography of the (Fig. 1B) three soil sample were collected in a Hatti Gold Mine triangle manner (0-10 cm depth) and mixed Hatti, the most productive gold mine sites in Karnataka. “Hatti Gold Ore” deposited Soilequally Pre-Treatment to form a composite and Physicochemical sample. within the Hutti-Maski metamorphic rock Analysis of Samples belt, it’s a Neo-Archaean greenstone belt and it was dominated by a metavolcanic suite Prior to analysis, the ore tailing and of rocks with subordinate amount of meta- sedimented rocks. Since, Pre-Ashoka period, grind in a mortar and passed through a soil samples were air dried at 30˚C and Hatti village, Raichur District of Karnataka 0.2 mm sieve. The resulted soil samples was the historical background in gold were used throughout the experiment for mining activity, lies within the magnitude physicochemical and metal distribution analysis. The physicochemical properties longitude. The region was exposed to least like pH, water holding capacity (WHC), bulk amountof 16˚12’17.5” of rainfall N latitude in the andKarnataka 76˚38’45.5” state density (BD), electrical conductivity (EC), towards the south-west as well as the post- Organic carbon (OC) were determined by monsoon months. During the south-west the method used by Tijjani et al. (2013). monsoon months, the rainfall is about 71% of the annual rainfall and in the post-monsoon by International standard pipette method Particle size distribution was determined months it receives only 35% of the annual described by Olmstead and Alexander rainfall as noticed by Government of India, (1930). Total elemental analysis of macro the ministry of water resources, central and micronutrients were determined by ground water board (www.cgwb.gov.in). digestion and spectrophotometric methods Fig 1. Shows the Hatti gold mine ore tailing (Pawluk, 1967). dumping yard, it was distributed in 15 acres, divided into an Old plot and New plot. The old Acid Digestion and Extraction of Heavy plot is fully dried leachate and it was planted Metals with Nilagiri (Eucalyptus sp.,) trees. In new The total concentration of heavy metal plot consists of 5 plots, each plot distributed elements in the soil samples were determined in 1-2 acre. The present sampling was carried by EPA standard method 3050B (Roy-Keith out in Plot-II of the new plot ore tailing and About 1 g of air-dried soil samples were 1998; Szakova 2010) with modifications. agriculture fields from near villages. 38 Landscape & Environment 11 (1) 2017. 35-44 completely decomposed in a digestion vessel was due to adopting the corporate social with a tri-acids mixture HNO3:H2SO4:HClO4 responsibility (CSR) policy by Hatti Gold (2:1:3). The mixture was then heated in Mine Company Ltd., for several years. In spite microwave assisted wet digestion system of this development, it also causes serious degradation of natural environment by instigating the metal ions through leachate, for 30 min at 250˚C. After cooling, the digest fallout, erosion, and runoff (Govil et al. was quantitatively transferred into a 50 ml 2008; Dasaram et al. 2011; Basavarajappa mlTeflon try acidvessel mixture and allowed (2:1:3), totransferred evaporation into at a and Manjunath 2015). Once extracting the 160˚C. The digest was then dissolved in a 3 desired metals from the ore, the refused and kept at laboratory temperature until wastes are discharged into tailing pond, it measurement.25 ml glass tube, filled with deionized water, may contain a high concentration of macro and microelements along with some noxious Quantification of Heavy Metals by using metal ions.