Edafología. Volumen 5. Diciembre 1998. pag 153-161.

 

EL DESASTRE ECOLÓGICO DE DOÑANA

 

M. Simón; I. Ortiz; I. García; E. Fernández; J. Fernández; C. Dorronsoro y J. Aguilar.

Dpto. de Edafología y Química Agrícola. Facultad de Ciencias. Universidad de Granada.

 

 

Abstract

On 25 April 1998, the ponds which stored the sterile residues from the mining bed of Aznalcóllar (Sevilla), situated at about 50 km from the National Park of Doñana, broke open. Some part of those toxic residues, 3,6 Hm3 of polluted water and 0,9 Hm3 of tailings, spilled into the Agrio and Guadiamar River Basin, spreading some 40 km.

In this work, we analyze the repercussions of the tailings on the soils from that area. So that, we study the concentration of a total of 24 toxic elements in the water, tailings and soils (polluted and non polluted).

We have found that the mean concentration of these elements goes beyond the reference values of the non polluted soils, but only dangerous levels of contamination are reached for some of these elements (Zn and particularly As).

 

Key words: Aznalcóllar, Soil Pollution, Heavy metals.

 

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