[Heavy metal content in the soils in the area of the Damianov Copper-Extraction Plant in the city of Srednogorie].

A study was carried out on soils for heavy metals content in the region of one of the largest scale enterprises in the country - Copper Extraction Plant "G. Damjanov", Srednogorie town. A sensitive method was used with atom absorption spectrophotometer Perkin Elmer, Model 272, for the determination of the heavy metals investigated: manganese, nickel, zinc, copper, lead and cadmium. The authors investigated soil samples from two horizones: from 0.30 and from 30-60, comparing the results obtained with those in control "pure" soils and with the existing maximum allowable concentration (MAC). Elevation of the quantity of heavy metals in the soils was established, being best manifested with copper and lead, 90% of the samples containing copper over MAC, and with lead-over 33%.