Browsing by Subject "lead"

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    Análisis de metales pesados en chufa de producción ecológica y convencional como un 5 potencial indicador de calidad
    (Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Murcia, 2025) Castell Zeising, Vicente; Noguera, P.; García-Martínez, M.D.; Raigón, María Dolores; Sin departamento asociado
    The tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant from the Cyperaceae family. It is traditionally cultivated in the region of L’Horta de València. A small tuber (also called tiger nut) is harvested for human consumption, either raw (dried or hydrated) or for making horchata (a refreshing beverage obtained by mixing the extract of crushed tiger nuts with water and sweetened to taste). Locally, there is growing concern about the quality of tiger nuts for making horchata and the risks, both environmental and to human health, due to possible exposure during cultivation and the consequent risk of absorption by the plant. The environmental conflict is magnified by the persistence in the L’Horta ecosystem of soils with appreciable concentrations of heavy metals, affecting everything from the metabolic processes of organisms to environmental processes that impact public health. The main objective of this study is to analyze the composition of fresh tiger nuts and assess the risk of exposure and accumulation of heavy metals, distinguishing between tiger nuts produced using ecological and conventional techniques. The results show the presence of cadmium, lead y mercuric in tiger nut tubers, with no distinction between the two production systems, although the concentrations are very low to constitute a health risk.
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    Erosión y desertificación.-Environmental risks associated to wind erosion in a metal mining area from SE Spain
    Garcia Fernández, G.; Romero Díaz, A.; Universidad de Murcia
    ABSTRACT Soils and mining wastes from the Mediterranean mining area placed in the Sierra Minera Mountains are highly enriched in heavy metals such as lead and zinc, but also other metals such as cadmium and arsenic. Wind erosion in this area could be considered extremely high and hazards associated to this eroded sediments seems to be high because the huge amount of metals present in this wastes. Therefore, combination of high erosion rates and high metal concentration in this mining waste, make those environmental risks can be considered high for the surrounding ecosystems, but also for public health of the nearby villages and towns. In order, to study these wind erosion processes over these mining materials, some experiments for the evaluation of the transportation of soil particles were carried out. Erosion rates in this realm is particularly important during spring months, when increased activity of the eastern winds brings intense soil dragging, with strong effects on the metals dispersion, including the massive removal of sediments.