Critical control of flooding and draining sequences on the environmental risk of Zn-contaminated riverbank sediments

Abstract

Purpose Diffuse pollution emanating from metal miningimpacted sediment could serve as a barrier to achieving European Union Water Framework Directive and US Clean Water Act requirements. UK climate projections (UKCP09) predict increases in rainfall and aridity that will influence river stage alternately exposing and submersing contaminated riverbank sediment. Research focuses on the environmental contaminant dissolved Zn and investigates patterns of release, key geochemical mechanisms controlling Zn mobilisation and the environmental risk of sediment subjected to these perturbations. Materials and methods Using two laboratory mesocosm experiments, metal mining-contaminated sediment was subjected to alternate wet and dry sequences of different duration and frequency. The first experiment was run to determine the influence of submersion and exposure of contaminated sediment on releases of Zn and to establish environmental risk. The second experiment utilised diffusional equilibration in thin film (DET) to observe the patterns of Zn release, with depth, in the sediment. Pore water chemical analysis at the sediment-water interface enabled elucidation of key geochemical mechanisms of control of Zn mobilisation.Results and discussion Patterns of Zn release were found to be different, depending on the length of wet and dry period. High concentrations of dissolved Zn were released at the start of a flood for runs with longer dry periods. A buildup of soluble Zn sulphate minerals over long dry periods followed by dissolution on first flood wetting was a key geochemical mechanism controlling Zn release. For longer wet runs, increases in dissolved Mn and Zn were observed over the flood period. Key geochemical mechanisms controlling Zn mobilisation for these runs were: (i) reductive dissolution of Mn (hydr)oxides and release of partitioned Zn over prolonged flood periods followed by (ii) oxidation and precipitation of Mn (hydr)oxides and sorption of Zn on exposure to atmospheric conditions. Conclusions Mesocosm experiments were a first step in understanding the effects of UK climate projections on the riverbank environment. Contaminated sediment was found to pose a significant environmental risk in response to hydrological perturbations. The 'transient' nature of dissolved Zn release could make identifying the exact sources of pollution a challenge; therefore, further field studies are advised to monitor contaminant releases under a range of hydrological conditions and account for complex hydrology at mining sites.

Iron speciation at the riverbank surface in wetland and potential impact on the mobility of trace metals

“…Bourg et al, 1989;Du Laing et al, 2007), on the redox trapping of As or Zn (e.g. Datta et al, 2009;Stahl et al, 2016;Lynch et al, 2017), or on the distribution of elements (Zn and Fe) along vertical redox gradients of floodplain soil profiles (Shaheen and Rinklebe, 2014;Chen et al, 2017).…”

Preface

“…The last paper, by Lynch et al (2017), studied the potential for remobilisation of trace metals in floodplain soils in a mining-impacted headwater catchment in central Wales, UK, as a consequence of climate change. The UK has a substantial metal mining legacy that has resulted in widespread contamination of river catchment soils and sediments with trace metals such as Zn and Pb.…”

Flood risk assessment of environmental pollution hotspots

“…Heavy metal and chemical soil contamination has been already reported after major floods (Albering et al, 1999;Euripidou and Murray, 2004;Bird et al, 2005;Bravo et al, 2009;Cunningham, 2005;Krausmann et al, 2011;Cozzani et al, 2010;Lynch et al, 2017). Flooding of landfills represents a recognized environmental risk (Laner et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2012) and flood risk associated with waste disposal has been evaluated in Austria (Neuhold and Nachtnebel, 2011) also using a micro-scale approach for selected case studies (Neuhold, 2013).…”