Ecological Safety of Soils from Abandoned Mines of the Lviv-Volyn Coal Basin (on the Example of Chervonohrad Mining and Industrial District)

This paper assesses the mass concentration of heavy metals in the soils of abandoned mines in the Chervonohrad mining district. The main negative factors of coal mining dumps include high acidity, exceeding the maximum permissible concentration of heavy metals, low organic matter content, low humidity, high temperature of substrates, wind and water erosion, steepness and large area of slopes. Heavy metals not only accumulate in the soils of the industrial zone, but also leak into the underground water. Soils in this area are heavily polluted, with the highest levels of contamination occurring at the foot of the dumps. The highest mass concentrations of aluminum and iron were found to exceed 1 mg/kg, indicating oversaturation with these metals. High concentrations of heavy metals can lead to changes in soil biological communities, impacting soil fertility. An analysis of cadmium levels near the coal mine dump showed a higher content of 0.62 mg/kg compared to the background area but did not exceed the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of 0.7 mg/kg. The average metal content did not exceed 0.35 mg/ kg. Cobalt levels in the study area ranged from 0.2 to 2.2 mg/kg, below the background level of 3.0 mg/kg and the MPC of 5 mg/kg. The waste from the coal industry exhibited a low content of mobile zinc, with a maximum concentration of 5.84 mg/kg, which is 0.15 MPC but exceeds the background concentration by more than 30%.