The objective of this work is to assess the contamination of the Essouk stream, under acid drainage from the Sidi Kambar mine (southwest of Skikda, Algeria), which has been widely exploited during the previous decades. The methodology was conducted to control the current state of water chemistry, its evolution in space and time according to the variation of water physicochemical parameters and the content of trace metals (Pb, Fe, and Zn). In general, Essouk stream are highly sulphated (reached 598.56 mg/L) and have an elevated salinity, resulting in a high conductivity (1925 µS/cm) and presented a low pH (3.01). In addition, Fe, Pb and Zn contents reached 5.17 mg/L, 2.05 mg/L and 4.05 mg/L, respectively. Such results were linked to the bedrock of Sidi Kambar that is composed of galena, pyrite and sphalerite.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.