Distribution of Ag, Au, Bi, Cu, and Mo in surface soils. Case study: Mitrovica region, Republic of Kosovo

ABSTRACTThis article presents the results of a geochemical investigation of an anthropogenic group of metals (Ag, Au, Bi, Cu, and Mo) in the surface of the Mitrovica region, Republic of Kosovo. In order to determine their content and to evaluate the contamination level, 156 topsoil samples were collected in an area of 301.5 km2. The content of elements was determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The results showed that the average content of Cu (42 mg/kg), Bi (1.5 mg/kg), Ag (0.44 mg/kg), and Au (2.7 μg/kg) exceeded their average content in European and world soils by 3.4 and 1.4 times; 3.0 and 7.5 times; 1.62 and 8.8 times and 2.7 and 1.8 times, respectively. The average Mo content (0.68 mg/kg) exceeded the average content in European soils by 1.09 times, while the average content in world soil was not exceeded. Copper levels exceeded the Dutch target value of 36 mg/kg in 152 km2 and the Dutch action value of 190 mg/kg in 6.2 km2 of the study area. The enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index values for the analysed elements indicate that their higher content is of anthropogenic origin, mainly due to lead and zinc mining and metallurgical activities in the study area. The quality of soils in the Mitrovica region varies from highly contaminated with copper and bismuth, with extremely high enrichment of Cu, Bi and Ag in the soils of the central zone (Zone I) and the urban soils of the cities of Zveçan and Mitrovica. Therefore, the establishment of a monitoring and treatment programme for contaminated soils in this zone would be necessary to protect human health .KEYWORDS: Soilpollutionenrichment factorgeo-accumulation indexMitrovica regionRepublic of Kosovo Author contributionsMA, RŠ and TS: conceptualisation and supervision of the project; MA and TS: writing of the manuscript. MA and TS: majority of the experiments. RŠ: statistical processing and preparation of the maps; All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.Data availability statementThe authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingData processing is partially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency under the Research Programme Groundwater and Geochemistry (P1-0020).Notes on contributorsMilihate AliuMilihate Aliu has received her B.Sc. (1990) and M.Sc. (2004) in University of Prishtina, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, Department of Chemistry, Republic of Kosovo. PhD (2011) has received from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Institute of Chemistry, Skopje, North Macedonia. From 2001-2007 she was with the Faculty of Science, Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo as teaching assistant, from 2002-2004 was as teaching assistant at the State University of Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia and from 2004-2011 she was teaching assistant at the Faculty of Medicine in Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo. In 2012, she was elected as an assistant professor at the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Applied Sciences. From 2017 to present, she has been working at the University of Applied Sciences in Ferizaj, Republic of ,Kosovo as an associate professor. She is the author of 3 books, 7 chapters, 14 papers and 42 presentations. Her research interest is in analytical and environmental chemistry.Robert ŠajnDr. Robert Šajn received his BSc (1989), MSc (1995), and PhD (1998) in geology from the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He was employed by the Geological Survey of Slovenia in 1990. He has been a senior scientific researcher since 2004. He was working on many geochemical projects for exploration and environmental purposes, geochemical research and mapping of urban areas, management, statistical processing, and GIS processing with databases. He has published over 105 scientific papers.Trajče StafilovProf. Dr. Trajče Stafilov received his BSc (1972), MSc (1979), and PhD (1985) in Chemistry from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia. From 1974-1978 he was with the same faculty as a teaching assistant, and from 1978-1988 he was with Ferronickel, Kavadarci, Macedonia as a laboratory manager. From 1988 to present he has been working at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje, North Macedonia (since 1997 as a full professor). He has published over 30 books and monographs and over 450 scientific papers, which have been cited 4200 times. He works in the field of analytical chemistry and environmental chemistry.