Figure 1.

Figure 2.
![Geological map accordi ng to Detailed geological map of Poland 1:50,000 Zabrze sheet [Wyczółkowski 1957]](https://sciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/64726ab0215d2f6c89dc731c/j_oszn-2023-0021_fig_002.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6AP2G7AKOUXAVR44%2F20251206%2Feu-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251206T075450Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Signature=9ec248129405477c5b8c29d7446ea063daac60217a9029d1f5609a8c55f074f0&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)
Figure 3.
![Location of zinc smelter “Victor” an d “Ida” ironworks [according to Degenhardt, 1870]](https://sciendo-parsed.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/64726ab0215d2f6c89dc731c/j_oszn-2023-0021_fig_003.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA6AP2G7AKOUXAVR44%2F20251206%2Feu-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251206T075450Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Signature=5b28ce17a33d91c9e1148149bfd5c18541aa1d4b09a174e4d5710ab807ebeeac&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject)
Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

Figure 8.

Figure 9.

Figure 10.

Figure 11.

Principal Component Analysis (Varimax raw factor model) for topsoils; marked loads >0_7
| Element | Topsoil | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | |
| Ag, As, Cd, Pb, Zn | Co, Cr, Fe, Mn | Ba, Sr | Hg | |
| Ag | 0.88 | −0.04 | 0.10 | 0.16 |
| As | 0.95 | 0.11 | 0.07 | −0.06 |
| Ba | 0.26 | 0.23 | 0.80 | 0.21 |
| Cd | 0.83 | 0.13 | 0.19 | 0.21 |
| Co | 0.08 | 0.87 | 0.09 | 0.06 |
| Cr | 0.04 | 0.70 | 0.35 | −0.01 |
| Cu | 0.31 | 0.23 | 0.64 | −0.19 |
| Fe | 0.24 | 0.74 | 0.51 | −0.03 |
| Hg | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.84 |
| Mn | 0.14 | 0.79 | −0.03 | 0.07 |
| Ni | 0.19 | 0.68 | 0.55 | 0.06 |
| Pb | 0.90 | 0.17 | 0.15 | 0.15 |
| S | 0.67 | 0.17 | 0.21 | −0.33 |
| Sr | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0.89 | 0.01 |
| Zn | 0.84 | 0.16 | 0.18 | −0.16 |
| Variance % | 31.07 | 20.97 | 17.90 | 6.82 |
| Cumulative % | 76.76 | |||
Statistical parameters of chemical element content in soils (n= 271)
| Element/parameter | Detection limit | Min | Max | Median | Mean | *Regional geochemical background (median) | St. dev. | Coefficient of variation CV % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ag mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 5.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | <1 | 0.3 | 62 |
| As mg/kg | 3 | <3 | 303.6 | 6.6 | 11.0 | 6 | 23.7 | 213 |
| Ba mg/kg | 1 | 10.0 | 1,045.4 | 134.0 | 175.9 | 59 | 150.6 | 86 |
| Cd mg/kg | 0.5 | <0.5 | 78.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 2 | 6.8 | 193 |
| Co mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 25.2 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 2 | 4.3 | 94 |
| Cr mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 109.1 | 12.8 | 15.2 | 8 | 11.3 | 75 |
| Cu mg/kg | 1 | 1.6 | 279.1 | 19.6 | 27.2 | 9 | 29.5 | 109 |
| Fe % | 0.01 | 0.04 | 4.44 | 0.98 | 1.12 | 0.69 | 0.75 | 67 |
| Hg mg/kg | 0.02 | 0.03 | 4.49 | 0.08 | 0.12 | 0.05 | 0.28 | 229 |
| Mn mg/kg | 2 | 4.4 | 3,505.8 | 355.2 | 441.5 | 242 | 435.4 | 99 |
| Ni mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 52.2 | 9.2 | 12.0 | 6 | 9.6 | 80 |
| Pb mg/kg | 2 | 7.5 | 2,485.2 | 95.9 | 161.9 | 72 | 236.8 | 146 |
| S % | 0.003 | 0.003 | 0.792 | 0.033 | 0.042 | 0.022 | 0.055 | 131 |
| Sr mg/kg | 1 | 1.2 | 287.7 | 20.0 | 31.3 | 9 | 35.5 | 113 4 |
| Zn mg/kg | 1 | 10.3 | 11,026.1 | 264.5 | 442.5 | 164 | 908.2 | 205 |
| pH | 4.3 | 8.8 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 6.74 | 1.2 | 18 |
Consensus-Based TEC and PEC values according to MacDonald et al_ (2000)
| As | Cd | Cr | Cu | Hg | Ni | Pb | Zn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEC | 9.79 | 0.99 | 43.4 | 31.6 | 0.18 | 22.7 | 35.8 | 121 |
| PEC | 33.0 | 4.98 | 111 | 149 | 1.06 | 48.6 | 128 | 459 |
Statistical parameters of chemical element content in stream sediments (n= 58)
| Element | Detection limit | Min | Max | Median | Mean | *Regional geochemical background (median) | St. dev. | Coefficient of variation CV % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ag mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 3 | <1 | <1 | <1 | <1 | 84 |
| As mg/kg | 3 | <3 | 99 | 11.5 | 19.4 | 8.0 | 20.9 | 108 |
| Ba mg/kg | 1 | 20 | 427 | 124 | 136 | 97 | 91 | 67 |
| Cd mg/kg | 0.5 | <0.5 | 202 | 7 | 19 | 4 | 35 | 183 |
| Co mg/kg | 1 | <1 | 84 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 13 | 144 |
| Cr mg/kg | 1 | 3 | 452 | 18 | 26 | 12 | 58 | 219 |
| Cu mg/kg | 1 | 5 | 205 | 35 | 46 | 18 | 41 | 89 |
| Fe % | 0.01 | 0.10 | 18.85 | 1.28 | 1.83 | 1.33 | 2.54 | 139 |
| Hg mg/kg | 0.05 | <0.05 | 6.04 | 0.09 | 0.31 | 0.09 | 0.84 | 275 |
| Mn mg/kg | 2 | 17 | 7,561 | 365 | 724 | 300 | 1,103 | 152 |
| Ni mg/kg | 1 | 3 | 152 | 14 | 22 | 12 | 24 | 110 |
| Pb mg/kg | 2 | 13 | 847 | 128 | 179 | 83 | 157 | 88 |
| S % | 0.003 | 0.029 | 5.143 | 0.222 | 0.465 | 0.161 | 0.797 | 172 |
| Sr mg/kg | 1 | 3 | 332 | 22 | 34 | 26 | 46 | 137 |
| Zn mg/kg | 1 | 69 | 9,614 | 815 | 1,546 | 447 | 1,950 | 126 |
Principal Component Analysis (Varimax raw factor model) in stream sediments; marked loads >0_7
| Element | Stream sediments | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | |
| Cr, Mn | Ag, As, Cd, Pb, Zn | Co, Ni, S | Fe | |
| Ag | −0.03 | 0.85 | −0.04 | −0.13 |
| As | 0.01 | 0.72 | −0.02 | 0.60 |
| Ba | 0.69 | 0.02 | −0.29 | −0.01 |
| Cd | 0.00 | 0.85 | 0.12 | 0.02 |
| Co | 0.11 | −0.02 | 0.95 | 0.07 |
| Cr | 0.91 | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.06 |
| Cu | 0.69 | 0.32 | 0.46 | −0.10 |
| Fe | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.22 | 0.79 |
| Hg | −0.10 | 0.25 | −0.04 | −0.51 |
| Mn | 0.85 | −0.08 | 0.22 | 0.13 |
| Ni | 0.17 | 0.11 | 0.94 | 0.07 |
| Pb | 0.35 | 0.75 | 0.24 | 0.23 |
| S | −0.06 | 0.26 | 0.89 | 0.08 |
| Sr | 0.44 | 0.23 | 0.47 | −0.15 |
| Zn | 0.04 | 0.90 | 0.26 | 0.00 |
| Variance % | 19.22 | 24.41 | 22.24 | 9.20 |
| Cumulative % | 75.07 | |||