Distribution and mobility of arsenic in soils of a mining area (Western Spain)

García-Sánchez, Antonio-Javier; Alonso, Pilar; Santos-Francés, Fernando

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.05.032

Cited by 81 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Arsenic was retained in areas of high Fe-oxide content due to an affinity for Fe-oxides (Patinha et al, 2004,Sarkar et al, 2005, Qi and Donahoe, 2008and García-Sánchez et al, 2010. Iron and As also were reported to be strongly correlated in groundwater near the TMA (Henry, 2011).…”

Section: Streammentioning

confidence: 99%

Contaminants in surface water and sediments near the Tynagh silver mine site, County Galway, Ireland

O'Neill

Phillips

Bowen

et al. 2015

Science of The Total Environment

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A former silver mine in Tynagh, Co. Galway, Ireland is one of the most contaminated mine sites in Europe with maximum concentrations of Zn, As, Pb, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Cd far exceeding guideline values for water and sediment. The aims of this research were to 1) further assess the contamination, particularly metals, in surface water and sediment around the site, and 2) determine if the contamination has increased 10 years after the Environmental Protection Agency Ireland (EPAI) identified off-site contamination. Site pH is alkaline to neutral because CaCO3-rich sediment and rock material buffer the exposed acid generating sulphide-rich ore. When this study was compared to the previous EPAI study conducted 10 years earlier, it appeared that further weathering of exposed surface sediment had increased concentrations of As and other potentially toxic elements. Water samples from the tailings ponds and adjacent Barnacullia Stream had concentrations of Al, Cd, Mn, Zn and Pb above guideline values. Lead and Zn concentrations from the tailings pond sediment were 16 and 5 times higher, respectively, than concentrations reported 10 years earlier. Pb and Zn levels in most sediment samples exceeded the Expert Group (EGS) guidelines of 1000 and 5000 mg/kg, respectively. Arsenic concentrations were as high as 6238 mg/kg in the tailings ponds sediment, which is 62 and 862 times greater than the EGS and Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines (CSQG), respectively. Cadmium, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn concentrations in water and sediment were above guideline values downstream of the site. Additionally, Fe, Mn and organic matter (OM) were strongly correlated and correlated to Zn, Pb, As, Cd, Cu and Ni in stream sediment. Therefore, the nearby Barnacullia Stream is also a significant pathway for contaminant transport to downstream areas.Further rehabilitation of the site may decrease the contamination around the area.

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Section: Streammentioning

confidence: 99%

Contaminants in surface water and sediments near the Tynagh silver mine site, County Galway, Ireland

O'Neill

Phillips

Bowen

et al. 2015

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Furthermore, in most samples from Montalto and Tapada arsenic presents a higher portion associated with the oxy-hydroxides compared to antimony and this can be explained by the higher solubility of arsenic sulphides and sulphosalts than those of Sb (Vink 1996). Several studies have demonstrated that antimony and arsenic have low mobility in soils, and they are mainly retained by oxy-hydroxides and residual fraction (He 2007;Ettler et al 2007Ettler et al , 2010Wilson et al 2009;García-Sánchez et al 2010). The results obtained in the Portuguese areas studied are according to those presented by other studies, as arsenic tends to be more available than antimony (Ettler et al 2010).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment to the potential mobility and toxicity of metals and metalloids in soils contaminated by old Sb–Au and As–Au mines (NW Portugal)

2011

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The main purpose of this study is to assess arsenic and antimony availability in soils, as well as Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn availability in soils derived from the schist-metagraywacke complex close to old SbAu mines and in soils developed from Ordovician slates and close to an old As-Au mine in Portugal. The availability was determined using a European certified sequential extraction procedure (BCR). The results demonstrated that metalloids are not readily bioavailable, because they are mainly associated with the residual fraction. Arsenic and antimony proportions in exchangeable fractions are up to 3 and 1%, respectively. However, arsenic is up to 24% in oxy-hydroxide fractions, while antimony is up to 4% in them, demonstrating the highest bioavailability of arsenic compared to that of antimony, as metalloids are weakly bound to the soils in that fraction. Therefore, arsenic tends to be more toxic than antimony in all soils studied. However, the pseudo-total contents show that both metalloids are above the Italian and Dutch guidelines. Therefore, if physico-chemical changes occur arsenic and antimony will show higher potential environmental risk than evidenced by Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn.

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“…These results were important because they showed that available pollutants may be released into the environment due to significant changes in soil properties (Alexander, 2000). (Garcia-Sanchez et al, 2010). Moreover, the MS-3 system used in this work allows the determination of soil contaminant mobility under realistic conditions via microcosms columns that reproduce natural conditions, including simulated rainfall events.…”

Section: Physico-chemical Soil Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Risk assessment of an abandoned pyrite mine in Spain based on direct toxicity assays

García‐Gómez

Sánchez-Pardo

Esteban

et al. 2014

Science of The Total Environment

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El acceso a la versión del editor puede requerir la suscripción del recurso Access to the published version may require subscription AbstractThis research reports the risk assessment of an abandoned pyrite mine using direct toxicity assays of soil and groundwater samples taken at the site. The toxicity of As and heavy metals from mining soils to soil and aquatic organisms was studied using the Multispecies Soil System (MS-3) in soil columns. Ecotoxicological assessment was performed with soil samples diluted with a control soil at concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50 and 100% test soil/ soil (w/w). In this way, changes in the mobility and bioavailability of soil contaminants due to changes in geochemical soil properties via soil dilution were studied. The toxicity of water samples was tested on algae and Daphnia magna. The assessment of the mining area indicated that the current presence of As and heavy metals at the site may cause injuries to soil and aquatic organisms in the entire research area. Moreover, this investigation demonstrated that changes in geochemical conditions can increase the availability of arsenic and, consequently, the environmental risk of these soils. A good correlation was not found between toxicity parameters and the concentrations of soil contaminants based on total and extracted element concentrations. This finding reinforces the usefulness of direct toxicity assays for evaluating environmental risk.

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Distribution and mobility of arsenic in soils of a mining area (Western Spain)

Cited by 81 publications

References 55 publications

Contaminants in surface water and sediments near the Tynagh silver mine site, County Galway, Ireland

Contaminants in surface water and sediments near the Tynagh silver mine site, County Galway, Ireland

Assessment to the potential mobility and toxicity of metals and metalloids in soils contaminated by old Sb–Au and As–Au mines (NW Portugal)

Risk assessment of an abandoned pyrite mine in Spain based on direct toxicity assays

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