EN
Black carbon (BC) and heavy metals (HMs) are of great interest to researchers due to their hazardous impact on the environment. Coal is a dirty fuel and its huge exploitation (mining and combustion) causes serious pollution of the environment. In this work, the contamination by BC and HMs of the soil of the coal basin in Korba, India, was evaluated. Higher concentrations of BC and Fe were detected in the soil samples, ranging (n = 9) from 4.5-7.3 and 4.1-9.3% with mean value of 5.5 and 6.6%, respectively. Concentrations of As, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Hg in the surface soil (n = 9) ranged from 91-116, 88-109, 2,423-5,063, 140-479, 128-377, 1.25-2.73, 858-4,973, and 0.88-2.37 mg kg-1 with values of 101±5, 98±5, 3409±721, 229±72, 227±48, 1.84±0.35, 2068±882, and 1.45±0.33 mg kg-1, respectively. Among HMs, Pb is extremely enriched in the soil. The main sources of HMs in the soil apportioned are coal burning and mining.