Arsenic and Antimony Content in Soil and Plants from Baia Mare Area, Romania

Problem statement: The objective of this research was to evaluate the degree of soil contamination with arsenic and antimony in Baia Mare, a nonferrous mining and metallurgical center located in the North West region of Romania. The so il in the area is affected by the emissions of powders containing metals from metallurgical factor ies. Previous studies indicated the soil contamination with copper, zinc, cadmium and lead, but there is few data about the actual level of soi l pollution with arsenic and antimony. Approach: The soil samples were collected from 2 districts o f Baia Mare: Ferneziu, which is located in the proxim ity of a lead smelter and S ăsar district which is located along the S ăsar River in the preferential direction of the wind over a metallurgical factory producing lead. As reference was considered Dura ar ea located in a less polluted hilly area, in the we st part of the town. Samples of soil and plants from t he residential area of Ferneziu, S ăsar and Dura districts were collected. The arsenic determination was carried out by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and the antimony determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results: In Ferneziu area, the concentration of arsenic in soil ranged between 0.25 and 255 mg kg -1 . In S ăsar district the arsenic concentration in the soil ranged between 5.5 and 295 mg kg -1 . Regarding antimony, in Ferneziu area the concentrat ion ranged between 5.3 and 40.6 mg kg -1 ; while in Săsar, antimony soils concentrations vary in the rang e: 0.9-18.4. Arsenic and antimony concentrations in plants were low for almost of the samples, both in Ferneziu and S ăsar area indicating a low mobility of these elements in the studied soils. Conclusion: This study indicated the soil pollution with arsen ic both in Ferneziu district and in S ăsar district. The soil pollution with antimony was found especially in Ferneziu district.