Lead concentration in soil from an old mining town

Abstract

Lead concentration in soils has been measured in Vetagrande, an old mining town located at the state of Zacatecas in Me´xico. Eighty nine soils samples were analyzed using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence. The lead concentrations were treated with the Kriging method in order to estimate the lead concentration distribution in the studied area. Pb levels in soils were from 8 to 7730 lg kg-1, where 28.1% of soil samples have less than 400 lg kg-1, 71.9% is above 400 lg kg-1 which is the maximum level recommended by the EPA for residential use of soil. Lead concentration measured around public sites represent a risk of lead intake in the population.