The effects of mine waste contamination at multiple levels of biological organization

Dimensions of Environmental Engineering

“…A possible food-chain transfer from contaminated soils should also be considered. Changes at the ecosystem level may be inferred when contaminants exceed benchmark levels that are toxic to soil bacteria, suggesting that their functional properties related to nutrient cycling and energy flow have been affected [27]. The pathways for the migration of contaminants away from a given source may involve transport in surface water and shallow groundwater.…”

“…These may originate from various sources. Metal traces in soils, for example, were found to cause potentially contaminant effects at all levels of biological organization, from cellular to ecosystem levels, even in sites where the corresponding surface water met water quality criteria [27]. The presence of COPECs, or contaminants of potential environmental concern [28] in soil and water represents an ecological risk at the ecosystem, community, population, individual, cellular, and molecular levels.…”

Sediment accumulation of Ag, Cu, and Ni through a semi-arid basin as a by-product of the El Triunfo gold mine, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

“…Studies on silver sorption in soils show that silver is controlled by the organic matter in the soil, either through exchange or complexation (Jacobson et al, 2005). Thus, changes in geochemical conditions can easily remobilise sequestered trace metals, making the metal-rich sediment repositories a potential long-term source of pollution, from which the genotoxic metals can move through the food chain in living organisms (Ward et al, 1977;Peplow and Edmonds, 2005).…”

Environmental modelling and spatial landscape analysis for the contamination risk assessment of sensitive areas

“…Hansen et al 2008). Separate impact studies are often carried out for human health impact assessment (Gild 1984;Peplow and Edmonds 2005;Rapant et al 2006;Samadder 2011), social impact assessment (SIA) and ecological impact assessment (Wathern 1984b;Gzyl 1990;Zobrist et al 2009). Norton (1984) suggests the use of system analysis methods for ecological impact assessment, similar in principle to the above described LE, IE, LG and GEM methods.…”

“…Apart from that abandoned mines are the same as active mines in terms of types of hazard and potential impact on the environment; their major problems are uncertainty in information and lack of control. Direct exposure to acid mine drainage (AMD) and sediments discharged from abandoned metal mines poses a serious hazard to aquatic biota and to humans (Peplow and Edmonds 2005;Panagopoulos et al 2009;Lei et al 2010;Sarmiento et al 2011). …”