Mapping Copper and Lead Concentrations at Abandoned Mine Areas Using Element Analysis Data from ICP-AES and Portable...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Geochemistry
• Geostatistics

Background:

• Spatial variation of potentially toxic trace elements (PTEs) in soil requires mapping for effective contamination management in mining areas.
• Existing geostatistical studies often rely solely on ICP-AES data, which is limited by high costs and long analysis times.
• This limitation hinders comprehensive soil contamination assessment, especially in abandoned mine sites.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the prediction performance of different geostatistical approaches for mapping soil PTEs.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of integrating ICP-AES and portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) data for improved spatial accuracy.
• To identify the optimal method for generating soil contamination maps in abandoned mining areas.

Main Methods:

• Employed ordinary kriging and co-kriging geostatistical methods.
• Utilized both ICP-AES and portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) analysis data for copper and lead concentrations.
• Compared four approaches: ordinary kriging with ICP-AES data, PXRF data, combined ICP-AES and transformed PXRF data, and co-kriging with ICP-AES and PXRF data.
• Validated results using an independent dataset.

Main Results:

• Ordinary kriging applied to both ICP-AES and transformed PXRF data demonstrated the highest accuracy in mapping copper and lead concentrations.
• This combined approach effectively captured spatial distribution and minimized estimation errors.
• The study identified a superior method for soil contamination assessment in abandoned mines.

Conclusions:

• Integrating ICP-AES and transformed PXRF data with ordinary kriging offers a more accurate and efficient method for soil contamination mapping.
• This approach overcomes the limitations of relying solely on expensive and time-consuming ICP-AES analysis.
• The findings provide a practical strategy for environmental management and remediation of mining-affected soils.