Environmental and health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements and spatial distribution in soils of lavrio mining area, Greece: A meta-synthesis

The Lavrio mining district, well known for its millennia of mining and metallurgical activity, has attracted increasing attention due to its polymetallic pollution. The present pollution can possibly pose a threat not only to the environment but also to the local population. In this study, utilizing geochemical data collected and screened from the latest published articles (2018–2022), environmental, non-carcinogenic, and carcinogenic risks were assessed using advanced pollution indices. The objective is to evaluate the environmental and health risks and to produce hazard maps corresponding to Cadmium, Lead, Zinc and Arsenic elements. The data underwent statistical analysis to examine the possible effect of the metallurgical processing waste zones on the studied Potentially Toxic Elements-PTEs. Findings reveal that risk is highest across all the applied environmental indices except for Zn according to the Er index. Cadmium, Pb, and As may pose non-carcinogenic risks, while As has a cancerous effect on adults and children and Pb is dangerous solely in the case of children. All PTEs show a positive correlation between them with Cd and Zn displaying a significantly positive correlation, while a negative correlation is observed between PTEs’ content and the distance of the sampling points from the mines. The distribution fit of the PTEs’ concentration was not normal, and the waste zones were identified as a pollution source for Cd and As. The results underscore the necessity for further study in the area with a new dense grid sampling and new measures to rehabilitate the polluted soil.