DISTRIBUTION OF FE, ZN AND PB IN SOILS AND SEDIMENTS OF SW MISSOURI

The spatial distribution of metals Fe, Zn, and Pb in the top few centimeters of soils and sediments within southwest Missouri was investigated. Mining wastes which have been exposed for decades, has allowed various metals to contaminant nearby soils. The extent of this contamination was investigated using publically available sediment geochemistry data. Only data obtained using standard methodology (acid digestion and ICP) were selected. As a control site, a region within the study area with similar topography and type of soil but less mineralization was selected. Concentration maps for Zn and Pb were generated using the inverse distance weight method, and the statistical methods of principal component analysis and box plot diagrams were utilized. The results show where the various degrees of contamination occur, and the statistics helped identifying their dispersion path and their association to other metals.