Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
Volume 184, Issue 10, Pages 6173-6185Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2411-1
Keywords
Metals; Groundwater; Principal component analysis; Hierarchical cluster analysis; Sequential extraction
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Funding
- NICICO (National Iranian Copper Industry Co.)
- Research and Development Center of NICICO
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Identifying the possible sources of potential harmful metals in groundwater systems plays a crucial role in evaluating the potential risks to residents and local plant cover. An attempt was made to define the origin of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mo, Ni, and Pb in groundwater using multivariate statistic approaches [principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis], and tailings sequential extraction by the method of Tessier et al. The concentrations of studied elements were measured in 42 samples collected from 15 stations surrounding and downward the tailings dam of Miduk Copper Complex, central province of Kerman, Iran. According to the PCA results, confirmed by cluster dendrogram and metal content measurement of tailings sequential extracts, two components accounting for nearly73% of the total variance, controlled the heavy metal variability and classified the possible source of groundwater contamination into two categories: (1) upper seepage which controls the variability of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Pb and (2) toe seepage of tailings dump affecting on Mo and Al concentration in downstream groundwater.
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