Table 1 Mercury concentrations of soil samples from the two power plants.

From: Mercury pollution in vegetables, grains and soils from areas surrounding coal-fired power plants

Sampling site

Average mercury level* (μg/kg)

Maximum Mercury level (μg/kg)

Years of operation

Reference

Power Plant A, this study

305 ± 47.97

362

4

 

Power Plant B, this study

383 ± 32.59

407

3

 

Power Plant BaoJi, China

606

2,105

16

33

Power Plant “A Horizon”, US

19,900

—

30

34

Power Plant ChengDu, China

24,546

40,032

>30

35

  1. Dashed line: background soil mercury concentration in China (37 μg/kg)32. Sampling sites are marked in Fig. 1. Uncontaminated soil samples were collected from a farmland site > 55 km away from any power plants. A1, A2, B1, B2, B3 and B4 are locations where biological samples were collected. The level of significance was defined at P < 0.05 using T-test.
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