Abstract

In Chile, heavy metals pollution occurs mainly near copper mines in the northern and central regions of the country. Here, agricultural soils have been found to be polluted by heavy metals several kilometers from the source. The objective of this study was to analyze the contents of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Cr, Cd and Pb and chemical variables (pH, EC, OM and CEC) of soils found near copper mine tailing in the north of the country. Available heavy metals were determined using AAS, and total heavy metals were determined with ICP-OES. Soils were grouped into three sectors, according to their proximity to the tailing, the course of an estuary, and the direction of the wind. Cu was the heavy metal found in the highest average concentrations relative to the rest of the elements determined. The samples that followed the course of the estuary had the highest average contents of Cu, with significant (p?0.05) statistical differences from the other sectors. Principal components analysis of the heavy metal contents of the 24 samples analyzed indicated that three principal components explained 75.5 % of the data variability. In the dispersion graph of the first two components, a group of soils close to the interception axis and four distant soils, which had the highest contents of Fe (276.6 mg kg-1), Cu (375.1 mg kg-1), Mn (56.7 mg kg-1), Zn (21.7 mg kg-1), Cr (45.0 mg kg-1) and Pb (129.3 mg kg-1), are observed.