A specific flora has developped in Central Africa on soils which are naturally rich in Cu and Co. Mining and ore treatment activities in the Katanga province (RDC) have generated contaminations which endanger ecosystem viability and/or human health. A survey of edaphic conditions prevailing for plant growing on natural metalliferous outcrops, the 《copper hills》, in mining sites (quarries), and in contaminated areas around metal smelters, is conducted as a first stage of a phytoremediation-based research programme. Soluble, available and total content in some metallic trace elements have been measured. The first results show a relatively high heterogeneity inside and between sites. But the main finding is related to the very different nature of contamination between the three types of sites. This point constitutes an additional difficulty that should be taken into account for the selection of metallophytic species from the copper hills or the quarries in order to vegetalize a site contaminated by atmospheric fall outs from metal smelters in Lubumbashi.
Contaminated sites cuprophilic flora Katanga pedogeochemistry phytoremediation trace elements
COLINET Gilles SAAD Layla CUBAKA Alfred NGONGO Michel MAHY G. VERBRUGGEN N. BOCK L. MEERTS P.
Laboratoire de Geopedologie-Gembloux Agricultural University, Passage des deportes 2, B-5030 Belgium Laboratoire dEcologie-Gembloux Agricultural University, Belgium Laboratoire de Physiologie et de Genetique mol culaire des plantes Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Be Faculte dagronomie-Universite de Lubumbashi, Democratic republic of Congo Laboratoire de Genetique et Ecologie v6getales Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium