Geochemical Behaviours and Formation Mechanisms for Elevated Fluoride in the Drinking Groundwater in Sulin Coal-Mining District, Northern Anhui Province, China

Abstract

There has been substantial research on the sources and geochemical processes associated with fluoride (F -) in agricultural groundwater. However, the spatial distribution, geochemical behaviours, and enrichment mechanisms of fluoride in the groundwater from a coal-mining district used for drinking water supply have not been fully understood. In this study, 42 drinking water samples of the groundwater were collected in May 2019 and March 2020 from the Sulin coal-mining district, Anhui, China. Samples were analysed to investigate the distribution, geochemical behaviour, and formation mechanisms of fluoride. The Fconcentrations in the groundwater samples ranged from 0.55 to 2.06 mg/L, with a mean value of 1.16 mg/L. The Fconcentrations in 54.76% of the water samples exceeded China's national standards (1.00 mg/L). The results show that the Fin the water was enriched in an environment with high pH and HCO 3 content. The weathering of Fbearing minerals was the main source of Fin the drinking water supply. Evaporation, cation exchange, competitive effect, and anthropogenic activities were considered to have promoted elevated Fconcentrations in the groundwater resource. This research will aid policy development for properly managing drinking water to eliminate health problems in coal-mining districts due to excessive fluoride intake.

Seasonal distribution of deep groundwater fluoride, geochemical factors and ecological risk for irrigation in the Shendong mining area, China

“…As shown in Figure 5A, there was a significantly negative correlation between Fand Ca 2+ during the wet and dry seasons in the Shendong mining area, indicating that the dissolution of F-bearing minerals was one of the major factors influencing the enrichment of Fin deep groundwater (Hao et al, 2021b;Chen et al, 2021;Noor et al, 2022). All deep groundwater samples collected during the wet and dry seasons were distributed towards the saturated dissolution line of fluorite (K SP = 10 -10.6 ), further demonstrating that the dissolution of fluorite had a substantial effect on the appearance of high-Fdeep groundwater.…”

“…The two principal sources of Fin groundwater are anthropogenic (Borzi et al, 2015;Mamatchi et al, 2019;Su et al, 2021;Yadav et al, 2021;Zango et al, 2021;Huang et al, 2022) and geogenic in origin (Currell et al, 2011;He X et al, 2013;Xiao et al, 2015;Dehbandi et al, 2018;Hao et al, 2021b;Duggal and Sharma, 2022). Previous studies have found that geogenic processes are frequently responsible for elevated Fconcentrations in groundwater (Dehbandi et al, 2018;Emenike et al, 2018;Rashid et al, 2018;Hao et al, 2021c;Duggal and Sharma, 2022;Huang et al, 2022).…”

“…As one of the eight largest coalfields in the world, the Shendong mining area annually discharges approximately 106 million tons of mine (Hao et al, 2021a;Xu et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). Several studies have indicated that the Fconcentration in mine water of part of the Shendong mining area exceeds 1.00 mg/L, which unquestionably poses environmental risks (Hao et al, 2021b;Guo et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021;Hao et al, 2022). The large amount of groundwater with high fluoride is not suitable for domestic water, due to lack appropriate treatment technology and adequate funding (Gu, 2014;Gu et al, 2021).…”

Study on the properties of bauxite modified by acid leaching and calcination for improving fluorine removal

“…min À1 . Formulas ( 5), (6), and (7) were the calculation formulas of various parameters for adsorption thermodynamics.…”

“…Fluoride is a major pollutant in groundwater 1 . Fluorine in nature mainly comes from the smelting of aluminum, 2 power plants, 3 brick kiln, 4 volcanic eruption 5 and the dissolution of fluorine‐containing rocks by groundwater 6 . As an essential trace element for human body, 7,8 fluoride can promote tooth and bone development 9 .…”