Soil Copper Distribution in Tongling Mine Tailing Dam, China

The copper mine tailing dam in Tongling city has highly potential environment risk. To recognize the underground distribution of Cu in the mine tailing dam, nine profiles were excavated and surveyed in the central area of the deserted copper tailing dam. Soil samples from different layers of each profile were collected separately. The copper content in the tailing dam exceeded the toxic threshold of plants much, indicating high potential risk to local environment. The Copper of total and available contents both had the high heterogeneity in the horizontal direction. In the vertical direction, the total and available form of Cu displayed an opposite trend. The copper in the surface soil was easier to resolve, transport and transform than that in the subsoil.