Selenium source in the selenosis area of the Daba region, South Qinling Mountain, China

Naore Village in the Shuang'an countryside, Ziyang County, Shaanxi Province is located in the Daba region of South Qinling Mountain. It is one of two selenosis or selenium poisoning areas in China. Crops grown in the area are enriched in selenium. The soil is derived from high-selenium, pyritic, black carbonaceous slate and volcanic tuff of the Lujiaping Formation, Early Cambrian and Late Neoproterozoic in age, which is exposed in this area. The Lujiaping Formation is more than 40-m thick. Selenium content of the volcanic tuff averages 32 mg/kg Se and the black carbonaceous slate averages 22 mg/kg Se, which represent the highest concentrations recorded among all the strata and rocks sampled in the Daba region of South Qinling Mountain. This series of selenium-enriched rocks is also found in other places in the Daba region, South Qinling Mountain, where the soil contains about 10 to 30 mg/kg Se. These zones are latent selenosis zones in the Daba region. In addition, a selenium-enriched black carbonaceous shale, of Early Cambrian age, and containing 10 to 40 mg/kg Se, occurs in several other provinces in the south of China.