In order to assess the chemical properties of groundwater and soil in ophiolitic zone of Firuzabad, in east of Shahrood, Iran, 10 soil samples with regard to sensitive points (vicinity to mine, ophiolitic rocks, and villages) and 10 groundwater samples including nine samples from springs, and also one sample from a well in a village of the study area were taken. These samples were analyzed in laboratories using inductively coupled plasma method. The soil samples were also evaluated for grain size. The obtained results show that most of heavy and major elements were exceeding the permissible levels in soil and water samples in the study area. On the subject of soil quality, concentrations of elements Cr, Mn, Fe, Ca, Mg, Ca, Ni, and Zn are above permissible levels. Enrichment factor and index of geoaccumulation have been calculated for heavy and major elements of all soil samples. According to the obtained results, it may be argued that soil samples are contaminated in relation to the above-mentioned indices. Comparing the concentrations of elements with results of grain size analysis illustrates that the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Fe, Mg, and Co are positively correlated with sand fraction and the concentrations of Al, P, Mn, and Pb are directly proportional with clay fraction in soil samples. The study on water contamination suggests that concentrations of elements Cr, Ni, and Mg in groundwater samples of the study area are above the permissible levels. Some indices like metal index and heavy metal pollution index show that most of the water samples include heavy metal contamination.

The disposal is the final step of any hazardous waste management plan. An inappropriate landfill site may have negative environmental, economical, and ecological impacts. Therefore, landfills should be sited carefully by taking into account various rules, regulations, factors, and constraints. In this study, candidate sites for hazardous landfills in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province are determined using the integration of geographic information system and landfill susceptibility zonation methods. For this, the inappropriate areas were first removed from the model, and the suitability of remaining regions were evaluated using 15 different criteria in two steps. With this done, nine candidate sites were selected as the most suitable locations. Finally, the selected landfill sites were proposed based on environmental impact assessment (Leopold matrix) and economical studies. This study shows that Maasumabad, Kheirabad, Mayamey, and Yonsi are the best locations for the constitution of landfill in Khorasan Razavi province, respectively.

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Waste rock is the large volume of broken rock and low grade ore materials tend to create potential problems, such as acid mine drainage (AMD), leaching of heavy metals, and slope stability problems. These problems are related to the flow of water through the waste rock. In this study, long term numerical simulations of unsaturated flow in a large waste rock pile are conducted to investigate the effect of internal variability in water flow and saturation. The approach first consists of a basic geotechnical properties investigation to define the main features of the pile. This is followed by numerical simulations of the unsaturated flow through the pile based on the results from the field and laboratory characterization. The simulation results showed that pile is unable to fully saturate and drain during the simulated period. It was also found that high evaporation and the high bottom flux rate and also coarse grain nature of waste rock materials results holding few amounts of water in the system.