Evaluation of heavy metal contamination of soils in the area of Zardgol lead and zinc mine, northeast of Aligudarz (Lorestan province)

This research was conducted in order to evaluate the level of heavy metal contamination of the soils in the vicinity of the Yellow Flower lead and zinc mine. For this purpose, heavy metals of 33 surface soil samples of the mining area were analyzed with AAS flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The indices of origin and determination of the degree of pollution including enrichment index (Ef), accumulation index (Igeo) and pollution index (Cf) were calculated to evaluate soil contamination with heavy metals. According to the results, the average concentration of heavy metals including scandium, arsenic, yttrium, cadmium, copper, nickel, vanadium, chromium, lead, barium, manganese and zinc are 20.93, 28.19, 35.84, 56.2, and 90 respectively. 63/69, 71/69, 141/39, 176/39, 197/22, 404/87, 475/55, 492/27 mg/kg, where zinc is the highest and scandium is the lowest. Also, the results showed that the studied area has no general pollution with heavy metals. The concentration of some heavy metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium is very high in some places, which has caused the soil pollution to increase. This issue is due to the type of minerals in the mining area, including sphalerite and galena