The impacts of intensive mining on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems: A case of sediment pollution and calcium decline in cool temperate Tasmania, Australia

Abstract

Mining causes extensive damage to aquatic ecosystems via acidification, heavy metal pollution, sediment loading, and Ca decline. Yet little is known about the effects of mining on freshwater systems in the Southern Hemisphere. A case in point is the region of western Tasmania, Australia, an area extensively mined in the 19 th century, resulting in severe environmental contamination. In order to assess the impacts of mining on aquatic ecosystems in this region, we present a multiproxy investigation of the lacustrine sediments from Owen Tarn, Tasmania. This study includes a combination of radiometric dating ( 14 C and 210 Pb), sediment geochemistry (XRF and ICP-MS), pollen, charcoal and diatoms. Generalised additive mixed models were used to test if changes in the aquatic ecosystem can be explained by other covariates.Results from this record found four key impact phases: (1) Pre-mining, (2) Early mining, (3) Intense mining, and (4) Post-mining. Before mining, low heavy metal concentrations, slow sedimentation, low fire activity,

Colonialism and the environment: The pollution legacy of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest copper mine in the 20th century

“…This study aims to reconstruct the history of airborne metal pollution surrounding Queenstown, western Tasmania. This follows previous work investigating the spatial distribution of metals in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (Schneider et al, 2019), and the environmental effects of pollution from mining on the landscape, vegetation and aquatic ecosystems (Beck et al, 2020). The current study refines our long-term understanding of metal contamination as a result of different mining methods over time.…”

“…Figure4-Age-depth model of Basin Lake (A) and Owen Tarn(Beck et al 2020) (B) Bayesian 210 Pb analyses obtained by Plum(Aquino-López et al 2018). a-g)"Memory" panel (dependence of accumulation rate between neighbouring depths) shows the prior (green) and posterior (grey) distributionsof the memory parameter, b&h)"Accumulation rate" panel shows the prior (green) and posterior (grey) distributions of the accumulation rate, e&j) "Supported 210 Pb" panel shows the prior (green) and posterior (grey) distributions of the supported 210 Pb obtained from226 Ra measured in red and the mean of the posterior in blue, d&j) "Supply of210 Pb" panel shows the prior (green) and posterior (grey) distributions of the supply of 210 Pb to the sediment per year, e&k) "Reservoir" shows the distribution of the calculated reservoir effect between the 210 Pb results and the radiocarbon ages.…”

Ecosystem Health and Risk Assessments for High Conservation Value Mountain Ecosystems of South Asia: A Necessity to Guide Conservation Policies

“…The assessment process is preceded by a diagnostic phase, which involves understanding the key functions of the ecosystem, drivers of loss, and collapse. RLE identifies the ecosystem functional conduits and describes them based on the critical biotic or abiotic features and interactions and processes underpinning those ecosystems (Lindenmayer and McCarthy 2002 ; Lindenmayer et al 2016 ; Beck et al 2020 ). Through this diagnostic process, the RLE link features ecosystem services and human activities that in turn can help to inform conservation planning and land management policies to support good conservation and better livelihood options and opportunities (Lindenmayer 2020 ).…”

Impact of Forest Fires on Air Quality in Wolgan Valley, New South Wales, Australia—A Mapping and Monitoring Study Using Google Earth Engine

“…Fire causes partial or complete forest canopy loss, altering radiation balance by increasing the surface albedo, water drainage, and increased soil erosion [3].…”