In order to evaluate chemical behaviors and bioavailability of heavy metals in contaminated soils, two types of topsoil samples were collected at a Pb-Zn mining area located in Chenzhou city, southern Hunan Province (southern China), where mining activities of heavy metals have been conducted for about 500 years and ore waste tailings have been piled up around. In recent decades, high contents of heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Cr, and As have been found in environment nearby due to the collapse of a tailing dam in 1985, especially in th...