Application of a systemic approach to the study of pollution of the Tinto and Odiel rivers (Spain)

Abstract

The province of Huelva in the SW of Spain presents high environmental contrasts: together with the great abundance of natural spaces, it shows the impacts of historical natural resources exploitation processes. In the Ria of Huelva, the effluents of the chemical industries must be added to the contaminating inputs of the Tinto and Odiel rivers, coming from the acid drainage of the mines located in the Iberian Pyrite Belt. This forced the Environmental Agency (AMA) to elaborate in 1987 an Effluent Remediation Plan in order to negate unacceptable environmental impacts. The application of a "grey box" systemic analysis to the AMD pollution, undergone by the Tinto and Odiel rivers has allowed to set a conclusive explanation of the sampling results observed for a period of 11 years, thus making available an overall view of the polluting process and, above all, an explanation of its partial aspects.

EROD activity and cytochrome P4501A induction in liver and gills of Senegal sole Solea senegalensis from a polluted Huelva Estuary (SW Spain)

“…The contaminant load transported by the Tinto and Odiel Rivers to the Ría de Huelva and industrial activities (petrochemical, refining, fertilizer and mining) are the main causes (Sainz et al, 2005).…”

“…The contaminant load transported by the Tinto and Odiel rivers to the Ría de Huelva and industrial activities (petrochemical, refining, fertilizer and mining) are the main causes (Sainz et al, 2005). Related to the first contribution, the contaminants come from upstream of Tinto and Odiel rivers where there are mines belonging to the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), an important metal-rich sulfide deposit (Ruiz Cánovas et al, 2012;Galván et al, 2013), and which represent more than 99% of the total metal content in the estuary (Pérez-López et al, 2011).…”

Effect of different media composition on the micropropagation of Erica andevalensis, a metal accumulator species growing in mining areas (SW Spain)

“…The area where E. andevalensis grows successfully is seriously affected by acid mine drainage (AMD): a worldwide environmental problem (e.g. Johnson and Hallberg 2005;Sainz et al 2005;Akcil and Koldas 2006). The species has been proposed to be used as a tool to phytostabilization of metal contaminants in sulphide mine environments (Abreu et al 2008).…”

Hydrochemical characterization of an acid mine drainage-affected reservoir: the Sancho Reservoir, Huelva, southwest Spain

“…The IPB is one of the largest metallogenic regions of the world, with numerous giant and supergiant massive sulphide ore deposits (Sáez et al 1999), comprising 1700 Mt of sulphide reserves (Pinedo-Vara 1963). Consequently, the regional drainage network is strongly affected by AMD and acid rock drainage (ARD), as described by several authors: Elbaz-Poulichet et al (1999,2000,2001), Davis et al (2000), Grande et al (2003aGrande et al ( , 2003bGrande et al ( , 2005aGrande et al ( , 2005bGrande et al ( , 2010aGrande et al ( , 2010bGrande et al ( , 2010cGrande et al ( , 2010dGrande et al ( , 2010e, 2011aGrande et al ( , 2011b, Leblanc et al (2000), Borrego et al (2002), Sáinz et al (2002Sáinz et al ( , 2003aSáinz et al ( , 2003bSáinz et al ( , 2004Sáinz et al ( , 2005, Olıás et al (2004Olıás et al ( , 2005aOlıás et al ( , 2005bOlıás et al ( , 2006, Aroba et al (2007), Jiménez et al (2009), de la Torre et al (2009, Carro et al (2011) and Grande (2011).…”