Rare earth and trace element signatures for assessing an impact of rock mining and processing on the environment: Wiśniówka case study, south-central Poland

Abstract

A detailed hydrogeochemical study was performed in the Wiśniówka mining area (south-central Poland). This covered three acid pit bodies, historic tailings acid ponds, acid pools, and additionally two neighboring rivers. All these acid mine drainage (AMD) waters are characterized by the pH in the range of 1.7 (pools) to 3.5 (tailings ponds). The most interesting is the Podwiśniówka acid pit lake that shows a very low pH (2.2–2.5) and very high concentrations of SO4 2− (2720–5460 mg/L), Fe (545–1140 mg/L), Al (86.2 mg/L), As (9603–24,883 μg/L), Co (1317–3458 μg/L), Cr (753–2047 μg/L), Cu (6307–18,879 μg/L), Ni (1168–3127 μg/L), and rare earth element (REE) (589–1341 μg/L). In addition, seeps that drain the Podwiśniówka mine tailings and partly aggregate piles form strong acid pools in the mining area. Along with these pools, in which As and REE contents reach 369,726 and 6288 μg/L, respectively, these waters are among the most distinctive As- and REE-rich AMD surface waters across the world. It is noteworthy that the Podwiśniówka acid pit lake and Wiśniówka Duża acid pit sump exhibit different element signatures and REE concentration patterns normalized to North American Composite Shale (NASC): the Podwiśniówka acid pit lake always shows a characteristic roof-shaped medium REE (MREE) profile with distinct enrichments in Gd, Eu, and Tb whereas the other one displays a step-shaped heavy REE (HREE) profile with positive Tb and Gd anomalies. The REE undergo fractionation during weathering and the subsequent leaching of dissolved and suspended fractions from rocks to acid water bodies where these and other elements are further fractionated by geochemical processes. This study shows that the individual REE have greater affinities for Mn, HREE for Fe and SO4 2−, and only La and Ce for Al. This specific water geochemistry has enabled us to (i) pinpoint the location of AMD “hot spots” originated from quartzite mining and processing operations conducted by current and previous mining companies, (ii) predict the directions and effects of future strip mining for quartzites in the Wiśniówka Duża and Podwiśniówka open pits, and (iii) evaluate the potential impact of mining and processing effluents on the quality of rivers.

Potential Hazard of Lanthanides and Lanthanide-Based Nanoparticles to Aquatic Ecosystems: Data Gaps, Challenges and Future Research Needs Derived from Bibliometric Analysis

“…However, the higher levels of Ln have also been reported: sum Ln concentrations in the Syr Darya River ranged from 15.1-28.3 µg/L [118] and concentrations of Ln in stream waters (Eastern Canada) from <5 to 11,540 ng/L, with an average of 253 ng/L (n = 498) [119]. At very polluted sites, Ln concentrations may increase up to 78 µg/L [114,120] and, in exceptional cases, e.g., in acid mine drainage waters or after lake restoration while using Ln-modified bentonite clay, Ln concentrations may even reach 15 mg/L [116,[121][122][123][124][125]. Thus, comparison of the Ln concentration in the surface waters and reported toxicity values allows for concluding that, although even in contaminated waters Ln concentrations are still lower than the reported toxic concentrations for aquatic organisms, in certain cases (e.g., in the treated water bodies or mine waste water) Ln may already disturb normal function of ecosystem.…”

The Evaluation of the Possibility to Use the Water from Quarry Lakes for Irrigation

“…Similar values (0.016-0.5 mg Fe ×dm -3 ) were noted in lakes (Kleeberg and Grüneberg, 2005;Przybyła et al, 2011;Gwoździński et al, 2014), although in some cases, the iron loads (3.93-49.0 mg Fe ×dm -3 ) in lake waters were decidedly higher (Kleeberg and Grüneberg, 2005;Elzwayie et al, 2017), similarly as in water reservoirs 0.062-12.0 mg Fe ×dm -3 (Avila-Pérez et al, 1999; Karadede and Ünlü, 2000). On the other hand, in silica sand quarry lake, the iron concentration was 0.14 mg Fe ×dm -3 (Kumar et al, 2009), and in quartzite and quarzitic sandstone quarry lakes, it fell into the range of 5.2-23.3 (max.-860) mg Fe ×dm -3 (Migaszewski et al, 2016), which was significantly higher than in the analysed quarry lakes. The iron content in the analysed Strzelin quarry lakes was similar to the lower values (0.05-0.575 mg Fe×dm -3 ) of the iron load in the quarry lakes that emerged in metal ore mines (Kumar et al, 2009), where these values often reached up to 2.5-3.23 mg Fe×dm -3 , and even 248 mg Fe ×dm -3 (Ramstedt et.…”

Toxicological effects of the rare earth element neodymium in Mytilus galloprovincialis

“…In an alluvial aquifer affected by acid mine drainage (Guadiamar, Spain) it was detected < 0.01 -52.67 µg/L (Olías et al, 2005). It was also found a concentration of Nd of 10.8 µg/L (Khan et al, 2017) and 317 µg/L (Migaszewski et al, 2016) in the surface water of the ex-mining pit lake (Malaysia) and in a mining pit in Wisniowka (Poland), respectively.…”