Identification and Characterization of Arsenic and Metal Compounds in Contaminated Soil, Mine Tailings, and House Dust Using Synchrotron-Based Microanalysis

Jamieson, Heather E.; Walker, Stephen; Andrade, C. F.; Wrye, Lori A.; Rasmussen, Pat E.; Lanzirotti, Antonio; Parsons, Michael B.

doi:10.1080/10807039.2011.618415

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The floatation tailings comprised the largest volume waste stream but had the lowest As and Sb concentrations, whereas the calcine and ESP dust comprised the smallest volume but contained the greatest concentrations of As and Sb (Fawcett et al, 2006;Walker et al 2014). The dominant minerals in the tailings are quartz, dolomite, chlorite, muscovite and calcite (Walker et al 2011). Acid mine drainage does not occur since sulfide content is low relative to carbonate.…”

Section: Ore Geology and Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

Fawcett

Jamieson

Nordstrom

et al. 2015

Applied Geochemistry

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101

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Elevated levels of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) in water and sediments are legacy residues found downstream from gold-mining activities at the Giant Mine in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. To track the transport and fate of As and Sb, samples of mine-waste from the mill, and surface water, sediment, pore-water, and vegetation downstream of the mine were collected. Mine waste, porewater, and sediment samples were analyzed for bulk chemistry, and aqueous and solid-state speciation. Sediment and vegetation chemistry were evaluated using scanning electron microscope imaging, synchrotron-based element mapping and electron microprobe analysis. The distributions of As and Sb in sediments were similar, yet their distributions in the corresponding pore-waters were mostly dissimilar, and the mobility of As was greater than that of Sb. The aqueous and solid-state speciation of As and Sb also differed. In pore-water, As(V) dominated in oxidizing environments and As(III) in reducing environments. In contrast, the Sb(V) species dominated in all but one pore-water sample, even under reducing conditions. The As(V)-O solid phase became depleted with depth below the sediment-water interface, and the Sb(V)-O phase persisted under relatively reducing conditions. In the surficial zone at a site populated by Equisetum fluviatile (common horsetail), As and Sb were associated with organic material and appeared mobile in the root zone. In the zone below active plant growth, As and Sb were associated primarily with inorganic phases suggesting a release and reprecipitation of these elements upon plant death. The coexistence of reduced and oxidized As and Sb species, instability of some phases under changing redox conditions, and plant uptake and release pose challenges for remediation efforts at the

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Section: Ore Geology and Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

Fawcett

Jamieson

Nordstrom

et al. 2015

Applied Geochemistry

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101

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“…However, comparatively less work has been conducted in relation to arsenic speciation in atmospheric PM generated by mining operations [9,18,44,[74][75][76]83]. Research conducted to date indicates that both arsenate and arsenite may co-exist in smelter, coal combustion and gold roaster emissions [9,44,45,[74][75][76]83,94] although reported levels for the trivalent species are generally much lower than those for the arsenates (Table 1). For example, arsenate and arsenite concentrations in coal combustion emissions in China were 67 and 4.7 ng·m −3 , respectively [9].…”

Section: Arsenic Speciation In Particulate Mattermentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Since the oxidation state of arsenic in soil, water, and other environmental matrices is one of the key factors governing toxicity, speciation analysis is of interest in human exposure studies. Speciation analysis has been used widely for the identification and quantification of arsenic species in bulk samples of surface soils and mine wastes [94,95,99,100]. However, comparatively less work has been conducted in relation to arsenic speciation in atmospheric PM generated by mining operations [9,18,44,[74][75][76]83].…”

Section: Arsenic Speciation In Particulate Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most common forms of arsenic in the environment include the trivalent (arsenite) and pentavalent (arsenate) species [93], and they are often found occurring together [94,95]. Under oxidizing conditions, such as in surface soils and water, arsenic typically occurs in the pentavalent form [92], whereas in sufficiently reducing environments, or in the presence of a reducing agent, arsenite is the dominant form [94,96]. It is widely recognized that arsenite species have greater mobility in the environment [97] and are reported to be 25 to 60 times more toxic than the corresponding pentavalent forms [98].…”

Section: Arsenic Speciation In Particulate Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health Effects Associated with Inhalation of Airborne Arsenic Arising from Mining Operations

et al. 2014

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Arsenic in dust and aerosol generated by mining, mineral processing and metallurgical extraction industries, is a serious threat to human populations throughout the world. Major sources of contamination include smelting operations, coal combustion, hard rock mining, as well as their associated waste products, including fly ash, mine wastes and tailings. The number of uncontained arsenic-rich mine waste sites throughout the world is of growing concern, as is the number of people at risk of exposure. Inhalation exposures to arsenic-bearing dusts and aerosol, in both occupational and environmental settings, have been definitively linked to increased systemic uptake, as well as carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health outcomes. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to identify human populations and sensitive sub-populations at risk of exposure, and to better understand the modes of action for pulmonary arsenic toxicity and carcinogenesis. In this paper we explore the contribution of smelting, coal combustion, hard rock mining and their associated waste products to atmospheric arsenic. We also report on the current understanding of the health effects of inhaled arsenic, citing results from various toxicological, biomedical and epidemiological studies. This review is particularly aimed at OPEN ACCESSGeosciences 2014, 4 129 those researchers engaged in the distinct, but complementary areas of arsenic research within the multidisciplinary field of medical geology.Arsenic is the 20th most abundant element in the earth's crust and may be released into the atmosphere as a result of natural processes and anthropogenic activities [1]. Environmental arsenic is released via chemical and physical weathering processes, biological activity and volcanic emissions, while anthropogenic sources include mining, metal smelting and burning of coal. Annual global arsenic emissions are estimated to be 24,000 t [2], with around 60% originating from copper smelting and coal combustion alone [3]. In some urban and highly industrialized areas, less than 2% of the atmospheric arsenic inputs originate from natural sources [3].Emissions of arsenic-bearing particulate matter (PM) are of particular concern for human populations living in proximity to an emission source. Arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds are classified as Group 1 carcinogens and are associated with cancers of the lung, bladder, kidney, skin, liver and prostate [2]. It should be noted that within the general population, inhalation is only considered a minor exposure pathway for inorganic arsenic compounds, and ingestion is considered the primary exposure pathway [2]. However, populations living in the vicinity of an arsenic emission source have an increased risk of additional exposure through inhalation of arsenic-contaminated particulates [4][5][6][7][8][9].Despite their substantial contribution to global atmospheric arsenic species, mining operations play an understudied role in the generation of contaminated dust and aerosols [10]. To identify some of the emerging ...

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“…Sections where calcium arsenates were found were removed from the glass slide by soaking the slide in acetone and lifting it on kapton tape to be then analyzed at Beamline X26A at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York. Beamline X26A has proved to be suitable for obtaining high-resolution microdiffraction data on very small (5 µm) crystals (Jamieson et al, 2011;Walker et al, 2009). Once mounted on the X26-A beamline, liftable thin sections were explored by optical microscopy to identify those regions of interest.…”

Section: Micro X-ray Diffraction Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of diagenetic calcium arsenates using synchrotron-based micro X-ray diffraction

Castillo

Ávalos-Borja

Jamieson

et al. 2015

BSGM

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In this work, we identify the type of calcium arsenates found in sediment samples from an aquifer located in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, México. Sediments in contact with levels up to 158 mg/L of arsenic in neutral pH water were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive X-ray analyses (SEM-EDS), and synchrotron based X-ray diffraction. Identification of these calcium arsenates by X-ray analysis has proved to be very difficult to achieve because the precipitates of interest are on the microscale and immerse in a matrix of calcite, gypsum, and quartz comprising nearly 100 % of the samples. Needle-like specimens composed of calcium, arsenic, and oxygen were, however, commonly observed in sediment samples during SEM-EDS analyses in backscattered mode. Synchrotron based X-ray analyses revealed some peaks that were compared with published data for guerinite, haindingerite, and pharmacolite suggesting that these were the calcium arsenates present in sediments, the calcium arsenates that control the solubility of arsenic in the contaminated aquifer in Matehuala, and the calcium arsenates that prevail in the long-term in the environment after cycles of dissolution and precipitation. The identification of these calcium arsenates is consistent with the environmental conditions prevailing at the study area and the SEM-EDS observations. However, its identification is not unequivocal as the comparison of experimental data collected in single crystal specimens against X-ray diffraction references collected in powders prevents a strictly proper identification of the specimens analyzed. In this way, scorodite was also identified by synchrotron based Xray analyses however its presence is inconsistent with the environmental conditions and the calcium arsenate associations found in this study. Scorodite identification was therefore considered tentative. A thorough examination, with additional and/or improved analytical techniques, should be undertaken to find an environmentally sound explanation for the diffraction peaks assigned to scorodite, which might be from a clay a mineral, probably with no arsenic.

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Identification and Characterization of Arsenic and Metal Compounds in Contaminated Soil, Mine Tailings, and House Dust Using Synchrotron-Based Microanalysis

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

Arsenic and antimony geochemistry of mine wastes, associated waters and sediments at the Giant Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

Health Effects Associated with Inhalation of Airborne Arsenic Arising from Mining Operations

Identification of diagenetic calcium arsenates using synchrotron-based micro X-ray diffraction

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