Spectral Responses of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils in the Vicinity of a Hydrothermal Ore Deposit: A Case Study of Boksu Mine, South Korea

This paper investigated the spectral characteristics of heavy metal contaminated soils of a hydrothermal ore deposit developed in carbonate host rock associated with heavy metal concentration and mineral composition. The results showed that spectral response of heavy metal contaminated soils was statistically correlated with zinc, cadmium, and lead concentrations. Empirical equations for predicting zinc, cadmium, and lead concentrations were derived. Spectral characteristics of the soils were expressed by smectite, chlorite, tremolite, and talc which resulted from hydrothermal alteration and weathering products of the parent rocks. The stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) model of zinc, cadmium, and lead was statistically satisfactory with R
²
greater than 0.7. The SMLR results indicated that the spectral response to cadmium and zinc concentration was sensitive to reflectance at 1850 nm and first derivative at ~950 and 2154 nm corresponding to the smectite absorption features. On the other hand, lead concentration is closely related to first derivatives at 1453, 2316, and 2337 nm, which are absorption features of chlorite, tremolite, and talc. These results revealed that the spectral bands sensitive to the heavy metal concentration varied with the geochemical absorption mechanism between specific minerals and heavy metal elements. Therefore, the geological setting of the soils is one of the major controlling factors associated with spectral response to heavy metal contamination. Given the fact that a hydrothermal ore deposit is one of the most widely distributed types, the laboratory result of this paper may be applied to the real-world cases with similar geological environments.