Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution of Medicinal Plants Taraxacum Officinale Web. Growing in the Kuznetsk Basin Areas Affected by Coal Production

We have studied the features of heavy metal accumulation in and have carried out a hygienic assessment of medicinal plants Taraxacum officinale Web. growing in various areas of the microrelief of the Kedrovskii coal mine rock dump. We have revealed a higher variability in the content of Cr, Mn, Zn and Fe mobile forms in the waste embryonic soils and have found that Cu and Zn content was lower than in the case of sufficient soil supply. We have also revealed that in Taraxacum officinale Web. grass and roots, the biophile metals quantitatively predominate in the following sequence: Fe > Mn > Zn > Cu. Irrespective of the dump microrelief, the content of Pb and Cd is higher in grass, while the content of Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe prevails in roots. The maximum biological absorption (Bx) is characteristic for Cu > Zn > Fe. A high degree of translocation of industrial elements (Pb and Cd) from the roots to the grass of Taraxacum officinale Web. in all microreliefs of the dump has been observed. A hygienic assessment of embryonic soil, the roots and grass of Taraxacum officinale Web. has demonstrated the absence of excess of the heavy metal maximum permissible concentrations accepted in the Russian Federation and the maximum permissible concentrations based on the generalized world material and the regional background of the environmentally safe zones of the Kuznetsk Basin.