The hard coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin of southern Poland have highly saline waste water. In the past, such water was often discharged into nearby reservoirs, which would completely change the physicalchemical properties of the reservoir water. In some cases, it also caused permanent stratification; meromictic reservoirs were created. This paper describes the properties of the water in one such reservoir, in a mined out rock quarry in Katowice (southern Poland). Three zones characteristic of meromictic water bodies can be distinguished in the reservoir: a surface atmosphere responsive zone (mixolimnion), a transition zone (chemocline), and a bottom unmixed layer (monolimnion). For comparison, baseline conditions for normal reservoir water were assumed to be represented by the nearby Grunfeld reservoir, which also formed in a closed quarry, but was not used for disposal of mine waste water.
In the Holy Cross Mountains (southern Poland), there are numerous disused quarries. Some of these are filled with water, and some, despite their nearby location, have extremely diverse physicochemical and chemical properties of their waters. One such object is the Wiśniówka Mała reservoir. Its waters contain large amounts of sulfates (> 700 mg/L) and iron (24 mg/L), which are weathering products of rocks containing metal sulfides (mainly pyrite) in the direct drainage zone. As a consequence, there is an increase in the electrolytic conductivity of the water supplying the reservoir, resulting in very low pH values (< 4). This article presents the detailed limnological characteristics of this reservoir and explains the process that led to its water acidification. A control reservoir, Barcza, was also selected for the tests. Although it is also a post-mining excavation, it has a neutral pH and a low concentration of sulfates and iron. The examined reservoirs differ in the hydrochemical type of waters. The Wiśniówka Mała reservoir represents a sulfate-calcium double-ion type (SO 4 2−-Ca 2+) and the Barcza reservoir, a bicarbonate-calcium type (HCO 3 −-Ca 2+). The concentrations of the main ions occurring here are shaped by the lithological features of the surrounding rocks (respectively: Upper Cambrian quartzite sandstones with pyrite mineralization zones, Lower Devonian sandstones cut by mudstones and claystones with tuffite inserts).
A characteristic feature of the mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in southern Poland is their highly saline mine water. In the past, this water was often discharged into anthropogenic reservoirs located a short distance from the mines, which completely changed the physicochemical properties of the water. In some cases, it also led to stratification of the reservoir waters, i.e. to the formation of meromictic water bodies. The Rontok Wielki reservoir, a former fish breeding pond, was converted into a settling tank for the highly saline (Cl − = 38,000 mg/L) water discharging from the Silesia Mine. The water in the tank stratified in three distinct zones: a mixolimnion, chemocline, and monolimnion. The saline mine water input ceased in 2003 and since then, there has been a gradual decrease in the electrical conductivity and [Cl − ] in the reservoir waters. Moreover, meromixis has been entirely eliminated and freshwater breeding species have reappeared. A control, the Rontok reservoir, which was also a breeding pond, but was never used to settle saline mine water, was also studied for comparison.
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