Hydrogeochemical processes governing the origin, transport and fate of major and trace elements from mine wastes and mineralized rock to surface waters

Nordstrom, D. Kirk

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.06.002

Cited by 388 publications

(210 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…The spatial and temporal distribution of trace elements in surface water can be affected by various hydrological, geochemical, and microbiological processes. Understanding the physical and chemical processes controlling the distribution of trace elements is a prerequisite for developing remediation strategies in watersheds contaminated by mining (Cánovas et al 2007;Kimball et al 2010;Nordstrom 2011;Runkel et al 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Distribution of As, Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in the Water and Sediment of a River Impacted by Gold Mining

Zhang

Zhou

2013

Mine Water Environ

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Historical and active mining has adversely affected the geochemistry of the Jiehe River in the Jiaodong Peninsula, which has the largest gold ore reserves in China. Water and sediment samples were collected along the 37.8 km long river during the critical low flow season. Samples were analyzed for their geochemical properties, total concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in the sediment, and dissolved/particulate concentrations of trace elements in filtered/unfiltered water samples. Our results demonstrate that substantial amount of these elements have been released into the Jiehe River during the processes of extracting, selecting, processing, and smelting at the many historical and active gold mining sites in the watershed. High concentrations of potentially toxic elements (1.9-1,004 lg L -1 As, 4.2-210 lg L -1 Cr, 7.9-9,529 lg L -1 Pb, 2.0-855 lg L -1 Cd, 47.4-8,494 lg L -1 Cu, and 105-11,336 lg L -1 Zn) have seriously affected water quality in the region. In addition, these contaminants have accumulated in the bed sediment (7.7-181 mg kg -1 As, 24.1-726 mg kg -1 Cr, 9.9-1,100 mg kg -1 Pb, 0.1-51.8 mg kg -1 Cd, 22.1-1,524 mg kg -1 Cu, and 53.5-5,484 mg kg -1 Zn). Spatial distribution of these contaminants in water and sediment is controlled by the discharge from point and non-point sources as well as the reactive transport processes. Spatial analysis conducted on the sediment and stream concentration of As, Pb, Cd, and Zn suggests that two mining-related sources, at 4.3 and 17.6 km downstream of the headwaters, contributed most of the As, Pb, Cd, and Zn load as particulates. In contrast, high levels of Cr and Cu in the sediment are not related to the current loading pattern and may be due to historical sources. As the first comprehensive study on the pollution caused by intensive gold mining in this area, this research has provided much needed information to establish effective management and remediation strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Distribution of As, Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in the Water and Sediment of a River Impacted by Gold Mining

Zhang

Zhou

2013

Mine Water Environ

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“…Therefore, the sediment could, within hours, become a significant source of Zn contamination following prolonged dry periods due to formation of soluble sulphate minerals (Buckby et al 2003;Nordstrom 2009) and the dissolution of these salts on flooding. Studies have described a 'spike' in trace metal concentrations on the rising limb of river discharge during storm events due to the dissolution and 'flushing' of salts back into river channels following long dry antecedent periods (Nordstrom 2011). Byrne et al (2013) report a similar high flux of trace metals during storm events linked to extended dry antecedent periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical control of flooding and draining sequences on the environmental risk of Zn-contaminated riverbank sediments

2017

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Purpose Diffuse pollution emanating from metal miningimpacted sediment could serve as a barrier to achieving European Union Water Framework Directive and US Clean Water Act requirements. UK climate projections (UKCP09) predict increases in rainfall and aridity that will influence river stage alternately exposing and submersing contaminated riverbank sediment. Research focuses on the environmental contaminant dissolved Zn and investigates patterns of release, key geochemical mechanisms controlling Zn mobilisation and the environmental risk of sediment subjected to these perturbations. Materials and methods Using two laboratory mesocosm experiments, metal mining-contaminated sediment was subjected to alternate wet and dry sequences of different duration and frequency. The first experiment was run to determine the influence of submersion and exposure of contaminated sediment on releases of Zn and to establish environmental risk. The second experiment utilised diffusional equilibration in thin film (DET) to observe the patterns of Zn release, with depth, in the sediment. Pore water chemical analysis at the sediment-water interface enabled elucidation of key geochemical mechanisms of control of Zn mobilisation.Results and discussion Patterns of Zn release were found to be different, depending on the length of wet and dry period. High concentrations of dissolved Zn were released at the start of a flood for runs with longer dry periods. A buildup of soluble Zn sulphate minerals over long dry periods followed by dissolution on first flood wetting was a key geochemical mechanism controlling Zn release. For longer wet runs, increases in dissolved Mn and Zn were observed over the flood period. Key geochemical mechanisms controlling Zn mobilisation for these runs were: (i) reductive dissolution of Mn (hydr)oxides and release of partitioned Zn over prolonged flood periods followed by (ii) oxidation and precipitation of Mn (hydr)oxides and sorption of Zn on exposure to atmospheric conditions. Conclusions Mesocosm experiments were a first step in understanding the effects of UK climate projections on the riverbank environment. Contaminated sediment was found to pose a significant environmental risk in response to hydrological perturbations. The 'transient' nature of dissolved Zn release could make identifying the exact sources of pollution a challenge; therefore, further field studies are advised to monitor contaminant releases under a range of hydrological conditions and account for complex hydrology at mining sites.

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“…Deposition of mining waste piles typically results in graded bedding, through which most discharge is concentrated into a small of the total rock volume (Morin & Hutt, 1994;Smith, 1995). Unfortunately, the subsurface is rarely mapped to a su cient extent to identify and characterize flow paths, especially at historical mine sites, where e↵orts generally contend with a lack of site data and highly disturbed aquifer material (e.g., Nordstrom, 2011b;Oram et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive flow path characterization in a mining-impacted wetland

Bethune

Randell

Runkel

et al. 2015

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

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Time-lapse electrical resistivity (ER) is used in this study to capture the annual pulse of acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination, the so-called 'first-flush' driven by spring snowmelt, through the subsurface of a wetland downgradient of the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine workings in Central Colorado. Data were collected from mid-July to late October of 2013, with an additional dataset collected in June of 2014. ER provides a distributed measurement of changes in subsurface electrical properties at high spatial resolution. Inversion of the data shows the development through time of multiple resistive anomalies in the subsurface, which corroborating data suggest are driven by changes in total dissolved solids (TDS) localized in preferential flow pathways. Because of the non-uniqueness inherent to deterministic inversion, the exact geometry and magnitude of the anomalies is unknown, but sensitivity analyses on synthetic data taken to mimic the site suggest that the anomalies would need to be at least several meters in diameter to be adequately resolved by the inversions. Preferential flow path existence would have a critical impact on the extent of attenuation mechanisms at the site, and their further characterization could be used to parameterize reactive transport models in developing quantitative predictions of remediation strategies.iii

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Hydrogeochemical processes governing the origin, transport and fate of major and trace elements from mine wastes and mineralized rock to surface waters

Cited by 388 publications

References 87 publications

Spatial Distribution of As, Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in the Water and Sediment of a River Impacted by Gold Mining

Spatial Distribution of As, Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn in the Water and Sediment of a River Impacted by Gold Mining

Critical control of flooding and draining sequences on the environmental risk of Zn-contaminated riverbank sediments

Non-invasive flow path characterization in a mining-impacted wetland

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