Metals, mines and moorland: the changing lead mining landscapes of the North Pennines, UK, 1700-1948

Kincey, Mark; Gerrard, Christopher; Warburton, Jeff

doi:10.1080/00794236.2022.2058221

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In New World contexts, geomorphologists have coined the term post European settlement alluvium, or PESA (Portenga et al, 2016), and in Europe ‘anthropogenic alluvium’ (Macklin et al, 2014) to refer to stratified deposits of soil produced by recent erosion in the headwaters of river systems. PESA is generally assumed to be associated with increased erosion due to land clearance and agricultural activities, but in some parts of the world, PESA deposits have been explicitly associated with mine waste, including the western United States (Alpers et al, 2005; James, 2004, 2013; Rohe, 1983), Bolivia (Miller et al, 2004), New Zealand (Clement et al, 2017), Slovakia (Bitušík et al, 2018) and the UK (Dennis et al, 2009; Foulds et al, 2013, 2014; Kincey et al, 2022; Lewin & Macklin, 1987; Thorndycraft et al, 2003). The quantity and extent of mining‐related PESA deposits, however, and the human origins of processes that have led to its production, have generally been poorly understood.…”

Section: Mining Legaciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterising mine wastes as archaeological landscapes

et al. 2023

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Industrial‐scale metal mining has long been a feature of developing economies. Processing ores to recover minerals has generated large quantities of waste rock, tailings and contaminants. Mining‐related deposits, along with associated soil and water geochemistry, river modifications and other environmental changes, are a product of the nature, scale and intensity of past operations. These artefacts of historical mining create anthropogenic landscapes that extend far beyond individual sites due to the dispersal of mine waste by rivers and pose enduring threats to human and ecosystem health. Their presence and significance, however, are often overlooked by heritage and environmental managers. To be acknowledged as artefacts of the historical mining industry, landscape features must be identified and characterised with reference to the human activities that triggered their formation. This requires an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates anthropogenic landscape change at a regional scale. In this paper, we integrate archaeological, geomorphological and geochemical evidence to identify and analyse mining‐related changes to the Loddon River valley in Victoria, Australia. Nineteenth‐century gold mining caused extensive erosion of creeks and gullies and mobilised sediments that filled channels and spread over floodplains. In addition, tailing deposits concentrated arsenic at levels significantly above environmental background conditions. Recognising these legacies of historical mining is vital to understanding mining heritage and to managing healthy rivers, environments and communities.

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