Past mining activities in the Vosges Mountains (eastern France): Impact on vegetation and metal contamination over the past millennium

Abstract

Coring was carried out in a soligenous marsh in the Vosges Mountains in the past mining district of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (eastern France). High-resolution palynological, non-pollen-palynomorph, and geochemical analyses were performed along the core. Correlations between the herbal composition of the landscape and trace metals in the core reveal a specific palynological pattern during mining activities. Two main periods of anthropogenic impacts on vegetation and trace metal contamination are shown: during the 16th–17th centuries, for mining and smelting activities, and the beginning of the 20th century, for smelting and the Industrial Revolution. No drastic deforestations occurred near the study site, contrary to historical descriptions and prints of the valley. Controlled forest practices were implemented from the beginning of the record, that is, since cal. AD 1000, so the impact of mining activities seems to be less significant than expected near mining sites. We demonstrate that the minerotrophic characteristics of the record closest to past mining sites allows for (1) the description of the landscape associated with anthropogenic activities and (2) the recording of past trace metal emissions without post-depositional mobility.

An Exploration Study of the Kagenfels and Natzwiller Granites, Northern Vosges Mountains, France: A Combined Approach of Stream Sediment Geochemistry and Automated Mineralogy

“…Of the 20 stream sediment samples (Samples 1-20) undergoing ICP-MS analysis, nine samples (2,3,14,15,16,17,18,19,20) of the <75 µm sample fraction were selected for mineralogical analysis. In addition, two rock samples (17A and 18A) were collected within a 10 m distance upstream of their corresponding stream sediment sample locations (17 and 18), and a mineralogical analysis (QEMSCAN ® ) was performed on uncovered polished thin sections of these samples.…”

“…The overall metallogenic setting of the Vosges Mountains has been described in Dekoninck et al (2017) [16], Fluck and Stein (1992) [17], Fluck (1977) [18] and Fluck and Weil (1976) [19]. Whilst the Central Vosges, in particular, are famous for previously mined post-Variscan polymetallic Pb-Zn-Cu-As-Co-Bi veins along the "Val d'Argent" trend near Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines [20,21], there are limited studies available that explicitly describe the mineralisation patterns of the northern Vosges magmatic suite. Billa et al (2016) [22] evaluated the regional geochemical trends of historic BRGM data across French basement "massifs".…”

Anthropogenic and climate signals in late-Holocene peat layers of an ombrotrophic bog in the Styrian Enns valley (Austrian Alps)

“…Even though emissions of copper smelting processes are detectable in regular soils across tens of kilometres (Ettler, 2016) and the potential of Cu as an anthropogenic tracer in peat deposits has been highlighted by different authors (e.g. Ukonmaanaho et al, 2002;Rausch et al, 2005;Mighall et al, 2009;Novak et al, 2011;Mariet et al, 2016), other studies have questioned the reliability of Cu as a marker of past human impact in peat environments, due to its dependence on pH value, mineralogy (Rausch et al, 2005), vegetation (Shotyk et al, 2002;Ukonmaanaho et al, 2004) and hydrology (Tipping et al, 2003;Bobrov et al, 2011).…”

Reconstructing human–landscape interactions in the context of ancient iron smelting on Elba Island, Italy, using sedimentological evidence

“…Emissions from ancient metallurgy are documented globally, i.a. in Greenland ice cores (Hong, Candelone, Soutif, & Boutron, 1996), peat bogs and mires (e.g., Mariet et al, 2016;Martínez Cortizas, López-Merino, Bindler, Mighall, & Kylander, 2013;Shotyk et al, 1998), and lacustrine or lagoonal sediment archives (e.g., Elbaz-Poulichet, Dezileau, Freydier, Cossa & Sabatier, 2011;Renberg, Persson, & Emteryd, 1994). (Air) Emissions from metallurgy on Elba are evident in marine sediments (Leoni & Sartori, 1997;Leoni, Sartori, Damiani, Ferretti, & Viel, 1991;Vigliotti, Roveri, & Capotondi, 2003).…”