minerals Article Basic Characteristics of Coal Gangue in a Small-Scale Mining Site and Risk Assessment of Radioactive Elements for the Surrounding Soils Dun Wu 1,2, Yuanyuan Wang 3, Meichen Wang 2,4, Chao Wei 2, Guangqing Hu 1,2,*, Xiaoli He 5,* and Wei Fu 6 1 School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China;
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[email protected] (C.W.) 3 Anhui Province Engineering Laboratory for Mine Ecological Remediation, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China;
[email protected] 4 School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China 5 Biology Engineering Institute, Hefei Vocational and Technology College, Hefei 238000, China 6 CCTEG Shengyang Reserach Institute, Shengyang 110000, China;
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[email protected] (X.H.) Abstract: The accumulation/improper treatment of coal gangue will not only lead to waste of land, but also cause environmental pollution. Especially the impact of radioactive elements on the surrounding ecological environment is widely concerned by many scholars. In this study, the concentration of radioactive elements (uranium (U) and thorium (Th)) of small-scale coal gangue Citation: Wu, D.; Wang, Y.; Wang, mining site and surrounding soil in the northern region of Xieqiao coal mine were tested, the material M.; Wei, C.; Hu, G.; He, X.; Fu, W. composition of coal gangue was analyzed via XRF and XRD, the modes of occurrence of U and Basic Characteristics of Coal Gangue Th elements were investigated, and their potential ecological risks and ecological effectiveness in a Small-Scale Mining Site and Risk were evaluated.