Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mahdieh Dalvand
• Amir Hossein Hamidian
• Mohammad Ali Zare Chahouki
• Ali Asghar Mirjalili
• Babak Motesharezadeh
• Esmat Esmaeizadeh

Abstract

Due to environmental problems caused by mining activities, it is necessary to study and investigation the concentrations of the pollutants caused by this activities such as heavy metals. The aim of this study is the determination of the concentration of heavy metals Cu, Pb and Zn in roots of two species of Artemisia including Artemisia aucheri and Artemisia sieberi in the surrounding natural lands of Darreh Zereshk copper mine and regardless the role of other mines in the area. Therefore, the study area based on factors such as wind direction and distance from mine was divided into 10 regions and using random sampling method, 10 samples of artemisia and three samples of surfac soil were taken from each area. then the metal concentrations were measured using ICP-OES, after acid digestion. Based on the result obtained, mean concentrations of Cu, Pb and Zn in artemisia root was respectively 9.20, 1.65 and 22.30 and significant differences (p<0.05) were observed between metal concentrations in all districts.The maximum concentration of Cu, Pb and Zn was observed in Hasan abad, mine and bishe, respectively. The minimum concentration of Cu was observed in Baladast, and for Pb and Zn in Daregaze. Generally, the metal concentrations were observed to decrease with increasing distance from the mine. Pearson correlation results indicated a significant correlation (p<0.01) between Cu and Pb concentrations in soil and in the plant roots. The observed metal concentrations were in normal range for plants, according to the normal and critical values.

Keywords

• Heavy metals
• Artemisia aucheri
• Artemisia sieberi
• Copper mine
• Darreh Zereshk