Demková L., Jezný T., Bobuľská L. (2017): Assessment of soil heavy metal pollution in a former mining area -before and after the end of mining activities. Soil & Water Res., 12: 229−236.Toxicity and persistence of heavy metals, which are accumulated in the environment as the result of diverse industrial activities, represent serious environmental problem worldwide. The intense mineral extraction in mining areas has produced a large amount of waste material and tailings, which release toxic elements to the environment. The aim of the study was to determine in two time horizons (1997, 2015) the heavy metal contents of samples derived from ten sampling sites located in the former mining area of Central Spiš (Slovakia). In order to compare the level of contamination, the contamination factor (C i f ), degree of contamination (C d ), and pollution load index (PLI) were computed. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used in order to detect the relationships among heavy metals. A serious situation was found for Hg, Zn, and Cd, which exceeded limit values at all sampling sites within both studied years. In 1997, the average values of contamination factor have shown very high contamination with all studied heavy metals, and moderate contamination with Co. In 2015, the study area was classified as very highly contaminated with As, Hg, Zn, Cu, considerably contaminated with Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd, while Co contamination was not detected. Since 1997 till 2015 the pollution load index decreased by about 38%, nevertheless even then almost all sampling sites were classified as heavily polluted. Despite the fact that mining activities were stopped or limited at the beginning of the 21 st century, the presence of heavy metals in soils remains at a serious level. The high level of contamination is a result of heavy metal persistence and non-biodegradability.

Heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in soils and plants of four different ecosystems (forest, grassland, agro and urban ecosystem) at different distances from the source of the pollution were analyzed in order to assess and compare soil contamination in the various ecosystems and determine the potential accumulation of plants depending on the place they inhabit. Correlation relationships among heavy metals in soils differ depending on the ecosystem, and between soil and plant, the heavy metals showed significant correlation for Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. Contamination factor (C), degree of contamination (C) and pollution load index (PLI) were used in order to determine the level of environmental contamination of the study area. All studied ecosystems were rated as moderately contaminated (except agroecosystem, which was found as low contamination ecosystem) according to C and extremely polluted according to PLI. The highest pollution in both cases was found in urban ecosystem, and Cd, Cu and Fe were determined as the biggest pollutants.

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The aim of the present study was to determine concentrations of 15 macro- and micro-elements in 10 commercially available plantation Arabica coffee brands. The elemental concentration was studied in 50 samples of green and roasted coffee beans of various roasting degrees and their infusions. There were four different roasting degrees: City + (C+), Full city (FC), Full city ++ (FC++), and Dark (D). The attention was given to the impact of the roasting process on the elemental composition. Statistically significant differences were found between the green coffee beans and the different roasting degrees in both macro- and micro-elements. The results showed that roasting degrees affected the concentration of elements in resulting infusions. Dietary intakes for macro- and micro-elements based on RDA and PTWI (in the case of Al) were calculated. Based on the RDA values for macro- and micro-elements, it can be concluded that coffee infusions are not an important source of elements in nutrition. In the case of Al, consumption of coffee was considered non-hazardous based on the PTWI value.