Heavy Metal Contamination of Soils and Crop Plants in the Yugu-Kwangcheon Au-Ag Metallogenic Province

유구(維鳩)-광천(廣川) 금은광화대지역(金銀鑛化帶地域)에서의 토양(土壤) 및 농작물(農作物)의 중금속오염(重金屬汚染)

Yugu-Kwangcheon Au-Ag Province is connected to the southwestern part of the Cheonan Province and includes the Gubong (one of the biggest gold mine in past), Daebong and Samgwang mines. Cadmium concentrations in sphalerite of Yugu-Kwancheon Province is higher than those of other Au-Ag provinces and could be the source of the heavy metal contaminations. Heavy metals are present in rock-soil-plant-human system from natural geological materials, and dietary intake through this system makes a significant contribution to the ingestion of heavy metals by man. In order to examine the degree and extent of heavy metal contaminations in the Gubong, Daebong and Samgwang mine areas of Yugu-Kwangcheon Province, soil, stream water, sediment and crop plant samples were taken and analyzed for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). Cadmium and Pb concentrations in paddy/farm soils and stream sediments from the Gubong and Samgwang mine areas are higher than those in uncontaminated soils. Lead concentrations in crop plants cultivated in these soils are high up to $0.38{\mu}g/g$ in rice grain and $4.5{\mu}g/g$ in sesame. In these mine areas, regular consumption of crop plants by the local population would seem to pose a potential health problems from long-term Pb exposure. The biological absorption coefficient in rice grain for heavy metals varies in the order $C_d=Zn>Cu>Pb$ and the relationship between Cd concentrations in soils and crop plants is expressed by the equation $Cd_{plant}=0.11245\;Log\;Cd_{soil}+0.13472$.