Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage

Opencast mining of sulfide ore deposits may lead to the formation of anthropogenic acidic lakes with highly polluted waters. In these systems, it is crucial to understand the hydrological connections between surface and groundwater and their contribution to the pollutant load delivered to the downgr...

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Authors: Fuentes López, José María, Olías Álvarez, Manuel, León Cortegano, Rafael, Basallote Sánchez, María Dolores, Macías Suárez, Francisco, Moreno González, Raúl, Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repository:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/21144
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/21144
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Sulfide opencast mining
Water pollution
Trace elements
Rare earth elements
Acidic pit lake
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spelling Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainageFuentes López, José MaríaOlías Álvarez, ManuelLeón Cortegano, RafaelBasallote Sánchez, María DoloresMacías Suárez, FranciscoMoreno González, RaúlRuiz Cánovas, CarlosSulfide opencast miningWater pollutionTrace elementsRare earth elementsAcidic pit lakeOpencast mining of sulfide ore deposits may lead to the formation of anthropogenic acidic lakes with highly polluted waters. In these systems, it is crucial to understand the hydrological connections between surface and groundwater and their contribution to the pollutant load delivered to the downgradient streams. This study characterizes the interactions between surface and groundwater in an acidic pit lake using different geochemical tracers (i.e., REE and other trace metals). The San Telmo pit lake, located in one of the most pollutant sources of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), can be considered as a flow-through pit lake except during dry periods, when it behaves as a terminal lake due to lower inputs by surface waters and higher outputs by evaporation. Results based on geochemical tracers indicate that the main inputs to the pit lake come from surface waters, with minor groundwater inputs rich in As, Cr, Cu, Fe and Pb. The contaminant load released from the mining area is very high (e.g., median values of 520 kg/day of Fe and 38 kg/day of Zn), causing the degradation of the fluvial network downstream. Most of released pollutants come from waste dumps located at the W of the mining zone (~50–70% of Al, Cd, Mg, Mn, Ni, SO4 and Zn and > 70% for Cu, Cr, Fe and, V), while the contribution of the water coming out the pit lake and other dumps is much lower. Thus, remediation efforts to improve the area and fluvial courses downstream must focus on the W waste dumps.20222022-01-0120222022-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10272/21144reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelvainstname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/211442026-06-02T14:58:11Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
title Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
spellingShingle Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
Fuentes López, José María
Sulfide opencast mining
Water pollution
Trace elements
Rare earth elements
Acidic pit lake
title_short Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
title_full Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
title_fullStr Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
title_full_unstemmed Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
title_sort Stream-pit lake interactions in an abandoned mining area affected by acid drainage
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Fuentes López, José María
Olías Álvarez, Manuel
León Cortegano, Rafael
Basallote Sánchez, María Dolores
Macías Suárez, Francisco
Moreno González, Raúl
Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
author Fuentes López, José María
author_facet Fuentes López, José María
Olías Álvarez, Manuel
León Cortegano, Rafael
Basallote Sánchez, María Dolores
Macías Suárez, Francisco
Moreno González, Raúl
Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
author_role author
author2 Olías Álvarez, Manuel
León Cortegano, Rafael
Basallote Sánchez, María Dolores
Macías Suárez, Francisco
Moreno González, Raúl
Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Sulfide opencast mining
Water pollution
Trace elements
Rare earth elements
Acidic pit lake
topic Sulfide opencast mining
Water pollution
Trace elements
Rare earth elements
Acidic pit lake
description Opencast mining of sulfide ore deposits may lead to the formation of anthropogenic acidic lakes with highly polluted waters. In these systems, it is crucial to understand the hydrological connections between surface and groundwater and their contribution to the pollutant load delivered to the downgradient streams. This study characterizes the interactions between surface and groundwater in an acidic pit lake using different geochemical tracers (i.e., REE and other trace metals). The San Telmo pit lake, located in one of the most pollutant sources of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), can be considered as a flow-through pit lake except during dry periods, when it behaves as a terminal lake due to lower inputs by surface waters and higher outputs by evaporation. Results based on geochemical tracers indicate that the main inputs to the pit lake come from surface waters, with minor groundwater inputs rich in As, Cr, Cu, Fe and Pb. The contaminant load released from the mining area is very high (e.g., median values of 520 kg/day of Fe and 38 kg/day of Zn), causing the degradation of the fluvial network downstream. Most of released pollutants come from waste dumps located at the W of the mining zone (~50–70% of Al, Cd, Mg, Mn, Ni, SO4 and Zn and > 70% for Cu, Cr, Fe and, V), while the contribution of the water coming out the pit lake and other dumps is much lower. Thus, remediation efforts to improve the area and fluvial courses downstream must focus on the W waste dumps.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022-01-01
2022
2022-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10272/21144
url http://hdl.handle.net/10272/21144
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
instname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
instname_str Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
reponame_str Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
collection Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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