Soil pollution by a pyrite mine spill in Spain: evolution in time

Aguilar, J.; Dorronsoro, Carlos; Ondoño, Emilia Fernández; Fernández, Juan Manuel Pat; Fernández, Inés García; Martı́n, Francisco; Simón, M.

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2004.05.028

Cited by 110 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Although the levels of Zn were not alarming, they can be considered of environmental concern. The total concentrations of trace elements are in the range reported by Aguilar et al (2004) for the same area; they seem to have decreased over time in the experimental plot if our data are compared to previous studies just after the mine spill, in very-close plots at the same site (Clemente et al, 2006;Madejón et al, 2006). The high heterogeneity of the soils of this area (Vanderlinden et al, 2004) may contribute to this, as may either natural attenuation or pollutant dispersion to adjacent soils/ waters.…”

Section: Trace Element Contamination In Soilssupporting

confidence: 72%

“…The total As and Zn concentrations in soils exceeded the toxic thresholds that could be hazardous for the biota (Ross, 1994); As exceeded the permitted level of 100 mg kg À1 for soils in natural areas of Andalucía (Aguilar et al, 2004). In fact, 30% of the soils with pH < 5 and 5% of the soils with pH > 5 were above this latter limit.…”

Section: Trace Element Contamination In Soilsmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Using Mediterranean shrubs for the phytoremediation of a soil impacted by pyritic wastes in Southern Spain: A field experiment

Moreno-Jiménez

Vázquez

Carpena‐Ruiz

et al. 2011

Journal of Environmental Management

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This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Environmental Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Environmental Management 92.6 (2011): 1584-1590 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.01.022Re-vegetation is the main aim of ecological restoration projects, and in Mediterranean environments native plants are desirable to achieve successful restoration. In 1998, the burst of a tailings dam flooded the Guadiamar river valley downstream from Aznalcóllar (Southern Spain) with sludges that contained elevated concentrations of metals and metalloids, polluting soils and waters. A phytoremediation experiment to assess the potential use of native shrub species for the restoration of soils affected by the spillage was performed from 2005 to 2007, with soils divided into two groups: pH < 5 and pH > 5. Four native shrubs (Myrtus communis, Retama sphaerocarpa, Rosmarinus officinalis and Tamarix gallica) were planted and left to grow without intervention. Trace element concentrations in soils and plants, their extractability in soils, transfer factors and plant survival were used to identify the most-interesting species for phytoremediation. Total As was higher in soils with pH < 5. Ammonium sulphate-extractable zinc, copper, cadmium and aluminium concentrations were higher in very-acid soils, but arsenic was extracted more efficiently when soil pH was >5. Unlike As, which was either fixed by Fe oxides or retained as sulphide, the extractable metals showed significant relationships with the corresponding total soil metal concentration and inverse relationships with soil pH. T. gallica, R. officinalis and R. sphaerocarpa survived better in soils with pH > 5, while M. communis had better survival at pH < 5. R. sphaerocarpa showed the highest survival (30%) in all soils. Trace element transfer from soil to harvestable parts was low for all species and elements, and some species may have been able to decrease trace element availability in the soil. Our results suggest that R. sphaerocarpa is an adequate plant species for phytostabilising these soils, although more research is needed to address the self-sustainability of this remediation technique and the associated environmental changesThe authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects:CTM2007-66401-CO2-02/TECNO and CTM2004-06715-CO2-01) and from the Comunidad de Madrid (project EIADES S2009/AMB-1478

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Section: Trace Element Contamination In Soilssupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Trace Element Contamination In Soilsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Using Mediterranean shrubs for the phytoremediation of a soil impacted by pyritic wastes in Southern Spain: A field experiment

Moreno-Jiménez

Vázquez

Carpena‐Ruiz

et al. 2011

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…It is widely recognized that mining activities for rare earth ores have changed the environmental conditions, causing serious environmental problems such as permanent damages to ecosystems, severe soil erosion, air pollution, and loss of biodiversity (Salomons 1995;Aguilar et al 2004). Meanwhile, the large-scale and rapid increases of the exploitation activities of REE resources have resulted in substantial increases of REE levels in soils around the mining area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anomalous abundance and redistribution patterns of rare earth elements in soils of a mining area in Inner Mongolia, China

Wang

Liang

2016

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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The Bayan Obo Mine, the largest rare earth element (REE) deposit ever found in the world, has been mined for nearly 60 years for iron and rare earth elements. To assess the influences of mining activities on geochemical behavior of REEs in soils, 27 surface soil samples and three soil profile samples were collected from different directions in the vicinity of the mine area. The total concentrations of REEs in surface soils varied from 149.75 to 18,891.81 mg kg −1 with an average value of 1906.12 mg kg, which was apparently higher than the average values in China (181 mg kg). The order of the average concentrations of individual REEs in surface soils was similar to that in Bayan Obo ores, which confirmed that the concentration and distribution of REEs in the soils was influenced by the mining activities. The concentrations of single REE in the soil profiles showed a similar trend with depth with an increase at 0-25 cm section, then decreased and remained relatively stable in the deep part. The normalized curves inclined to the right side, showing the conspicuous fractionation between the light and heavy REEs, which supported by the North American Shale Composite (NASC) and Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS) normalized concentration ratios calculated for selected elements (La N /Yb N , La N / Sm N , Gd N /Yb N ). Slight positive Ce anomaly and negative Eu anomaly were also observed.

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“…The tilling of the upper 20-25 cm was repeated, although not in a generalised way, in 2002 and 2003. In any case, high metal concentrations were detected in the soils 4 years after the Aznalcóllar spill (Aguilar et al 2004;Kraus and Wiegand 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

Simón

Díez

Fernández

et al. 2008

Water Air Soil Pollut

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The concentrations of As and Zn in 100 georeferenced soils uniformly distributed throughout the area affected by the spill from the Aznalcóllar mine (April 1998) were analysed at three depths (0-10, 10-30, and 30-50 cm) and on four dates (autumn-winter 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004). For an estimate of the geochemical background, 30 unaffected soils near the edge of the spill were also analysed at the same depths. The soils were contaminated before the spill and, the accident seriously increased the concentration of As and Zn in the first 10 cm of almost all the affected soils. After the enormous efforts of cleaning up the tailings, around 45% of the soils had a concentration higher than 100 mg As kg −1 dry soil, and some 35% had a concentration higher than 1,000 mg Zn kg −1 dry soil. Both As and Zn penetrated between 10 and 30 cm in 25% and 45% of the soils, respectively, but reached 30 cm in only 12% of the soils. The remediation actions, especially the tilling and homogenisation of the uppermost 25 cm of the all soils, caused the As and Zn concentrations to decline in the soils, but this change was not very effective from the standpoint of pollution. Thus, 6 years after the spill, the uppermost 10 cm of 30% of the soils continued to have an As concentration higher than 100 mg As kg −1 , while the Zn concentration diminished considerably on the surface due to its greater mobility, accumulating between 10 and 30 cm in depth, where 20% of the soils continued to register more than 1,000 mg Zn kg −1 dry soil.

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Soil pollution by a pyrite mine spill in Spain: evolution in time

Cited by 110 publications

References 6 publications

Using Mediterranean shrubs for the phytoremediation of a soil impacted by pyritic wastes in Southern Spain: A field experiment

Using Mediterranean shrubs for the phytoremediation of a soil impacted by pyritic wastes in Southern Spain: A field experiment

Anomalous abundance and redistribution patterns of rare earth elements in soils of a mining area in Inner Mongolia, China

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

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