“…Size of tow n | Mining Area been deposited along the river banks. These were known as 'copperas'， (or melanterite from the Greek for "copper water") and were collected by the people living nearby, from around the 16th until the end of the 19th centuries, for use in dyeing, tanning and ink-making (Salkield, 1987;Willies, 1989).…”
The soluble metal sulphate salts melanterite, rozenite, rhomboclase, szomolnokite, copiapite, coquimbite, hexahydrite and halotrichite, together with gypsum, have been identified, some for the first time, on the banks of the Rio Tinto, SW Spain. Secondary Fe-sulphate minerals can form directly from evaporating, acid, sulphate-rich solutions as a result of pyrite oxidation. Chemical analyses of mixtures of these salt minerals indicate concentrations of Fe (up to 31 wt.%), Mg (up to 4 wt.%), Cu (up to 2 wt.%) and Zn (up to 1 wt.%). These minerals are shown to act as transient storage for metals and can store on average up to 10% (9.5 — 11%) and 22% (20—23%), Zn and Cu respectively, of the total discharge of the Rio Tinto during the summer period.Melanterite and rozenite precipitates at Rio Tinto are only found in association with very acidic drainage waters (pH <1.0) draining directly from pyritic waste piles. Copiapite precipitates abundantly on the banks of the Rio Tinto by (1) direct evaporation of the river water; or (2) as part of a paragenetic sequence with the inclusion of minor halotrichite, indicating natural dehydration and decomposition. The natural occurrences are comparable with the process of paragenesis from the evaporation of Rio Tinto river water under laboratory experiments resulting in the formation of aluminocopiapite, halotrichite, coquimbite, voltaite and gypsum.
“…Size of tow n | Mining Area been deposited along the river banks. These were known as 'copperas'， (or melanterite from the Greek for "copper water") and were collected by the people living nearby, from around the 16th until the end of the 19th centuries, for use in dyeing, tanning and ink-making (Salkield, 1987;Willies, 1989).…”
The soluble metal sulphate salts melanterite, rozenite, rhomboclase, szomolnokite, copiapite, coquimbite, hexahydrite and halotrichite, together with gypsum, have been identified, some for the first time, on the banks of the Rio Tinto, SW Spain. Secondary Fe-sulphate minerals can form directly from evaporating, acid, sulphate-rich solutions as a result of pyrite oxidation. Chemical analyses of mixtures of these salt minerals indicate concentrations of Fe (up to 31 wt.%), Mg (up to 4 wt.%), Cu (up to 2 wt.%) and Zn (up to 1 wt.%). These minerals are shown to act as transient storage for metals and can store on average up to 10% (9.5 — 11%) and 22% (20—23%), Zn and Cu respectively, of the total discharge of the Rio Tinto during the summer period.Melanterite and rozenite precipitates at Rio Tinto are only found in association with very acidic drainage waters (pH <1.0) draining directly from pyritic waste piles. Copiapite precipitates abundantly on the banks of the Rio Tinto by (1) direct evaporation of the river water; or (2) as part of a paragenetic sequence with the inclusion of minor halotrichite, indicating natural dehydration and decomposition. The natural occurrences are comparable with the process of paragenesis from the evaporation of Rio Tinto river water under laboratory experiments resulting in the formation of aluminocopiapite, halotrichite, coquimbite, voltaite and gypsum.
“…Together, these features constitute an intensely modified anthropogenic landscape characteristic of industrial mining around the world, including California, the Klondike and New Zealand (Morse 2003; Isenberg 2005; Hearn 2013). These relatively recent mining activities replicate patterns produced by Roman and medieval mining in Cornwall and Spain (Willies 1989; Thorndycraft et al 2003), but their scale and global distribution exemplify the acceleration of Anthropocene change over the past 200 years. Figure 1. The state of Victoria, showing places mentioned in the text.…”
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