Characterization of Pb-Bearing Minerals in Polluted Soils from Closed Mine Sites

Lead is a toxic metal, and its characterization in contaminated soils is crucial to the success of a remediation, especially for the soil washing, one of most commonly used technologies. In this study, we propose a convenient approach that combines sedimentary hydro-classification with semi-quantitative powder X-ray diffraction analysis for characterizing the Pb-bearing minerals in soils. The approach was applied to two samples (YYm and YYu-1) collected from a closed Cu–Pb–Zn mine in the Tohoku region of Japan. The samples were taken from adjacent areas but had different appearances (YYm was a gray soil and YYu-1 was a creamy colored soil). The coarser YYm fractions had higher Pb contents than the finer YYm fractions, but the finer YYu-1 fractions (diameters