Elemental Composition of the Soil and Plants Found in the Dump of the Novotroitsk Gold-Arsenic Deposit

The study aimed to evaluate the ecological situation in the region of Novotroitsk mill tailing dump located in the Plast city of the Chelyabinsk Oblast by means of identifying the microelement content of the local soil and plants. Four wells 18 m deep were bored. Averages samples were probed from the surface and soil 0–1 m deep for the microelement assay. For the analysis of plants, the authors took samples of the above and below surface parts of the typical plant species of the Southern Urals in the radius of 2 m from the bored wells. The content of the elements was measured by the method of mass-spectrometry with inductively connected plasma mass-spectrometer Nexion 300D (Perkin Elmer, USA). The levels of 25 elements were measured and expressed in mg/kg. The most informative values were in arsenic (As), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn). The obtained data were processed by the methods of mathematical analysis and expressed as “mathematical expectation ± mean-square deviation.” In the part of the soil layer that was characterized by the highest concentration of root systems of plants typical for this region, a significant exceedance in the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) of toxic elements (several-fold, As—several 100-fold). The content of As was 1962.86 ± 1538.74 (normal—2.0), Cu—37.14 ± 28.7 (normal—3.0), Pb—45.71 ± 17.18 (normal—32.0), Ni—44.29 ± 44.67 (normal—4.0), Zn—92.86 ± 35.46 (normal—23.0). The mean contents of elements in the samples of plants were the following: As—4.68 ± 8.12, Cu—20.44 ± 53.67, Pb—0.88 ± 1.36, Ni—1.95 ± 2.75, Zn—116.32 ± 193.51. Considering the toxicity of the mill tailings in the mining industry to living organisms, there is an acute necessity in the recultivating measures.