Tracing iron ore tailings in the marine environment: An investigation of the Fundão dam failure

Orlando, M. T. D.; Galvão, Elson Silva; Cavichini, A. S.; Turbay, Caio Vinícius Gabrig; Orlando, C.G.P.; Grilo, Caroline Fiório; Soares, Jacyra Ramos; Oliveira, Kyssyanne Samihra Santos; Sá, Fabian; Costa, Adeíldo; Bastos, Alex Cardoso; Quaresma, Valéria da Silva

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127184

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…It is likely that the Fe content in DIW was underestimated. In other studies, which used energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry to determine total contents instead of EPA 3051, the Fe increase after the disaster was clearly seen (contents above baseline; Guerra et al, 2017;Orlando et al, 2020). The magmatic rock (itabirite) found during the mining is composed mainly of primary hematite, primary magnetite, and quartz.…”

Section: Potentially Harmful Elements In Cs and Diwmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this area, the iron waste wave buried natural alluvial soils with layers of tailings approximately a meter thick. Previous works determined potentially harmful elements (PHE) on environmental matrixes in this area and also along the river as far as the Atlantic Ocean, but these studies separately evaluated estuarine soil and tailings (Queiroz et al, 2018), tailings and seabed sediments (Orlando et al, 2020), water and sediments (Hatje et al, 2017), tailings and sediments (Duarte et al, 2021), and tailings and nonaffected soils with an additional health risk assessment for As (Davila et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrated environmental assessment of iron ore tailings in floodplain soils and plants after the Fundão Dam disaster in Brazil

Melo

Lipski

Motta

et al. 2023

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Previous studies of the Doce River basin (Brazil) seem to be contradictory regarding the contamination of soils with potentially harmful elements (PHE). This research aimed to perform an integrated assessment of PHE in the soil–plant–tailing system from the area most affected by the iron waste after the Fundão Dam disaster in 2015. Different fractions of PHE (exchangeable, nonexchangeable, reducible, and pseudo‐total) were determined on deposited iron waste (DIW), soil waste mixture (SWM), and control soil (CS) samples. Total contents of PHE in Poaceae were also determined, and Allium cepa bioassays were performed to determine DIW and CS cytotoxicity and/or genotoxicity to plants. The Fe and Mn contaminations were the only ones related to the deposition of DIW on floodplains, and other harmful element content (such as As, Hg, Ni, Cd, Cr, and Pb) was not found above baseline values for soils. In addition, a significant part of the Fe and Mn in DIW is readily available or subject to acidification and prolonged flood reduction processes. The high available content of Fe favored its excessive accumulation by Brachiaria. The DIW chemical conditions reduced biological functions of A. cepa under a controlled environment. However, more drastic effects, such as genetic damage, were not seen. The postdisaster action of covering DIW with CS resulted in undesirable enrichment of Pb on the floodplain soils. The integrated results allow the conclusion that the iron waste is not a time bomb for PHE contamination of soils between the Fundão and Risoleta Neves Hydroelectric Dam (~100 km away from Fundão). Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;00:1–16. © 2023 SETAC

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Section: Potentially Harmful Elements In Cs and Diwmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated environmental assessment of iron ore tailings in floodplain soils and plants after the Fundão Dam disaster in Brazil

Melo

Lipski

Motta

et al. 2023

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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“…Iron ore tailings dams can contain a large amount of REEs extracted as a by‐product of exploited rocks, which could be leveraged by the technology industry reducing the tailing volume in the dams and the impact caused by REE extraction from the environment (Moran‐Palacios et al, 2019). In the Fundão Dam, where tailings are mostly composed of quartz and iron mineral phases (i.e., hematite, magnetite, goethite, and greenalite) (Grilo et al, 2018; Orlando et al, 2020), the REEs are probably associated with these Fe oxides because they act as a carrier phase for these metals (De Baars et al, 1985; Elderfield & Greaves, 1981; Szefer et al, 1998). Thus, due to the potential of REEs as sediment source tracers, this work aims to evaluate the concentrations of rare earth elements in samples of ore tailings from the Fundão Dam, in sediment from the Doce River basin and the continental shelf before the dam failure (backgrounds), comparing them to the REE content in the marine seabed sediments after the dam collapse in order to indicate the possible tailings occurrence on the continental shelf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rare earth elements as tracers of iron ore tailings on the Brazilian eastern continental shelf

Cagnin,

Costa,

Longhini

et al. 2023

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Iron ore tailings are stored in large dams and pose risks to the environment around the world. In Brazil, the rupture of these dams has become frequent and generated environmental and social concern. Rare earth elements are good tracers of sediment sources and our results indicated chronic contamination of the seabed sediment from the marine region affected by the Fundão Dam tailings since 2015, including areas of environmental protection. This research, carried out between November 2018 and September 2021, with a database of 575 samples, showed a greater contaminated material in the marine region adjacent to the Doce River mouth. Although data suggest prior mining contamination of the Doce River basin, the Fundão episode was an empirical and massive example of the environmental damage caused by these human activities over the centuries, showing that the impact remains in the shallow marine environments for years.

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“…The waste produced in the process of extracting valuable elements from the ore is called tailings (Orlando et al, 2020). Usually mine tailings sediments are not suitable for plant growth due to low carbon and nitrogen content, high acidity, salt conditions and heavy metal content.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Profile Geochemical Characteristics and Environmental Risk Prediction of Typical Sulfide Tailing Ponds Through Multiple Methods

Zhang¹,

Chen²,

Jiang³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abandoned tailings generated from copper mining are exposed to the environment for a long time will cause related risks, such as stability, landslides, surface and groundwater pollution, acid mine drainage (AMD) and secondary mineral deposits. This research started from multiple methods and comprehensively assessed the current status of mine tailings through the joint application of geophysics, geochemistry and mineralogy techniques to identify relevant environmental hazards. A thick oxidized hardened layer was formed on the surface of the tailings dam, but there were still faults or crack that affected its structural stability. According to the low-resistivity distribution of the tailings, the surface oxide compaction was judged, and the existence of high-resistivity cracks judged the potential migration path of heavy metals (HMs). The microscopic morphology and existing mineral phases of tailings particles at different depths in the profile were determined by SEM and XRD of representative samples as the main feature of iron crystalline phase. As the profile depth increased, the minerals such as calcite, pyrite and goethite gradually appeared. In addition, Cr and As were no risk, Cu, Zn, Pb were low risk, Ni was medium risk, and Cd was high risk in risk assessment code (RAC) analysis of the tailings. Judging whether HMs in the tailings are hazardous substances according to the results of toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), it was found that the leaching contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Ni, As were all lower than the limit, while the leaching content of Cd was higher than the limit, and additional attention should be paid to Cd pollution.

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Tracing iron ore tailings in the marine environment: An investigation of the Fundão dam failure

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Integrated environmental assessment of iron ore tailings in floodplain soils and plants after the Fundão Dam disaster in Brazil

Integrated environmental assessment of iron ore tailings in floodplain soils and plants after the Fundão Dam disaster in Brazil

Rare earth elements as tracers of iron ore tailings on the Brazilian eastern continental shelf

Evaluating the Profile Geochemical Characteristics and Environmental Risk Prediction of Typical Sulfide Tailing Ponds Through Multiple Methods

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