Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications
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Journal of Geochemical Exploration
2024
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| Online Access: | https://repository.daystar.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4621 |
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| author | Ngure, Veronica Davies, Theophilus Kinuthia, Geoffrey Sitati, Noah Shisia, Silvanus Okoth, Elijah Oyoo |
| author_facet | Ngure, Veronica Davies, Theophilus Kinuthia, Geoffrey Sitati, Noah Shisia, Silvanus Okoth, Elijah Oyoo |
| author_sort | Ngure, Veronica |
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| id | ir-123456789-4621 |
| institution | Daystar University |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Journal of Geochemical Exploration |
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| spelling | ir-123456789-46212024-09-04T13:03:34Z Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications Ngure, Veronica Davies, Theophilus Kinuthia, Geoffrey Sitati, Noah Shisia, Silvanus Okoth, Elijah Oyoo Environment Health Gold mining Fish Potentially harmful elements Lake Victoria Journal Article Second only to the agricultural industry, mining is often considered to be the largest source of pollution in most mineral-rich countries. Minewastes and tailings commonly generate large concentrations of effluents containing high levels of potentially harmful elements (PHEs) which migrate into various compartments of the ecosystem with obvious undesirable health consequences. In this study, the concentrations of As Cd, Hg and Pb were determined on samples of soil, stream water and fish (Rastrineobola argentea) collected from the Migori Gold Belt (MGB) in Kenya. Maximum total concentrations of Cd, Pb, As and Hg recorded in some samples in the study area were found to be far above the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) maximum allowable concentrations (MAC), respectively, including some from the control site, 150 km away from the MGB. The calculated geometric means showed that the PHE concentrations were significantly above MAC levels (p b 0.05) in the three sample types. The PHE concentrations were as follows: in water, Cd: 1.5–10.5 μg l−1, Pb: 0.4–13.1 μg l−1, As: 0.06–23.0 μg l−1, and Hg: 0.36–52.1 μg l−1; in soil, Cd: 4.5–570 mg kg−1, Pb: 5.9–619 mg kg−1, As: 0.08–86.0 mg kg−1, and Hg: 0.51–1830 mg kg−1; and in fish; Cd, 1.9–10.1 mg kg−1, Pb: 2.0–13.1 mg kg−1, As: 0.02–1.92 mg kg−1, and Hg: 0.26–355 mg kg−1. Concentrations of PHEs were much higher in the area affected by gold mining area than at point S4 which was sampled for comparison and was 70 km away from the gold mining area. We conclude that gold mining and other human activities in the MGB have led to the release of toxic levels of Cd, Pb, As and Hg, which may lead to serious environmental health consequences in humans. We recommend that the public health sector addresses in a timely fashion, these sources of contamination (gold mining and associated human activities), in order to obviate impending health problems. 2024-05-14T06:56:15Z 2024-05-14T06:56:15Z 2014 Article Ngure, V., et al., Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements from gold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health imp..., J. Geochem. Explor. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.04.004 https://repository.daystar.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4621 en application/pdf Journal of Geochemical Exploration |
| spellingShingle | Environment Health Gold mining Fish Potentially harmful elements Lake Victoria Ngure, Veronica Davies, Theophilus Kinuthia, Geoffrey Sitati, Noah Shisia, Silvanus Okoth, Elijah Oyoo Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title | Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title_full | Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title_fullStr | Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title_short | Concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in Lake Victoria Region, Kenya: Environmental and health implications |
| title_sort | concentration levels of potentially harmful elements fromgold mining in lake victoria region, kenya: environmental and health implications |
| topic | Environment Health Gold mining Fish Potentially harmful elements Lake Victoria |
| url | https://repository.daystar.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4621 |
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