Long-term effects of the Aznalcóllar mine spill—heavy metal content and mobility in soils and sediments of the Guadiamar river valley (SW Spain)

Kraus, Uta; Wiegand, Jens

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.12.027

Cited by 123 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The tilling of the upper 20-25 cm was repeated, although not in a generalised way, in 2002 and 2003. In any case, high metal concentrations were detected in the soils 4 years after the Aznalcóllar spill (Aguilar et al 2004;Kraus and Wiegand 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 85%

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

Simón

Díez

Fernández

et al. 2008

Water Air Soil Pollut

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The concentrations of As and Zn in 100 georeferenced soils uniformly distributed throughout the area affected by the spill from the Aznalcóllar mine (April 1998) were analysed at three depths (0-10, 10-30, and 30-50 cm) and on four dates (autumn-winter 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004). For an estimate of the geochemical background, 30 unaffected soils near the edge of the spill were also analysed at the same depths. The soils were contaminated before the spill and, the accident seriously increased the concentration of As and Zn in the first 10 cm of almost all the affected soils. After the enormous efforts of cleaning up the tailings, around 45% of the soils had a concentration higher than 100 mg As kg −1 dry soil, and some 35% had a concentration higher than 1,000 mg Zn kg −1 dry soil. Both As and Zn penetrated between 10 and 30 cm in 25% and 45% of the soils, respectively, but reached 30 cm in only 12% of the soils. The remediation actions, especially the tilling and homogenisation of the uppermost 25 cm of the all soils, caused the As and Zn concentrations to decline in the soils, but this change was not very effective from the standpoint of pollution. Thus, 6 years after the spill, the uppermost 10 cm of 30% of the soils continued to have an As concentration higher than 100 mg As kg −1 , while the Zn concentration diminished considerably on the surface due to its greater mobility, accumulating between 10 and 30 cm in depth, where 20% of the soils continued to register more than 1,000 mg Zn kg −1 dry soil.

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mentioning

confidence: 85%

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

Simón

Díez

Fernández

et al. 2008

Water Air Soil Pollut

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“…The intensity of metal mobilisation, related to frequent floodplain inundation, is much higher than usually observed in uninundated soils, with little attention paid to the environmental significance of this process (Ciszewski et al 2008). Moreover, metal redistribution in vertical profiles, which reflects to some extent metal transfer from sediments to surface waters, is also related to changes in redox conditions and precipitation with Fe hydroxides (Cappuyns and Swennen 2004;Kraus and Wiegand 2006). Investigations of metal mine-contaminated catchments indicate the role of channel and floodplain sediments as an important diffuse metal source (Owens and Walling 2003;Mighanetara et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term dispersal of heavy metals in a catchment affected by historic lead and zinc mining

Ciszewski

Kubsik

Aleksander-Kwaterczak

2012

J Soils Sediments

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Purpose The Matylda catchment, in southern Poland, was polluted by the discharge of mine waters from a lead and zinc mine that inundated parts of a valley floor and caused the accumulation of metal-polluted sediments. After a partial reclamation of the mine site in the early 1980s, polluted sediments continue to accumulate on downstream floodplains and in fishponds. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the changes in metal dispersal during 100 years of mining and during the 40-year post-mining period and to propose a strategy for pollution mitigation in the area. Materials and methods Analyses of Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Mn, Ca, Mg and Fe concentrations, speciation of heavy metals and mineralogical analyses were undertaken on overbank sediment cores and in stream sediments. Concentrations of the same elements and macro-ions soluble in stream waters were also determined. Results and discussion Concentrations of Zn, Cd and Pb in the sediment profiles vary between 40,000 and 55,000, 300 and 600 and 30,000 and 50,000 mg kg -1 , respectively. Changes of metal concentrations and the stratigraphy of sediments from the floodplains, stream channels and fishponds suggest rapid changes of metal loads migrating downstream during both the mining and post-mining periods. Since the time of mine closure, fine-grained, mine-derived sediments (ca. 12 cm thick) have been the main source of pollution of post-mining sediments and surface waters. Closure of the mine was followed by a relatively short period of rapid redistribution of sediment-associated heavy metals in the stream channel. Since the 1980s, the floodplain and fishponds have received a constant supply of metals. It contrasts with the slow sediment accretion rate and a rapid decrease of metal concentrations in floodplain pools due to dilution by decomposed leaf litter. A fivefold increase of Cd content in waters over the 4.6 km reach of the Matylda stream indicates continuous leaching of this element from the contaminated valley floor. Conclusions Unsuccessful mine site rehabilitation is due to leaching of mine-originated sediments dispersed over the valley bottom. However, the rate of metal remobilization over the last 40 years is low because of the small thickness and widespread anoxic conditions that prevail within both recent and mine-originated sediments and the alkaline pH of stream water, which reduces metal mobility. Distribution of the contaminated layer over a large area of the valley bottom precludes cost-efficient catchment rehabilitation.

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“…Heavy metals in soil not only affect the soil quality [1,2], but can also migrate laterally through runoff and sediment transport with rainfall [3]. Heavy metal migration can take the heavy metals from upstream to downstream [4,5], and the heavy metals may then contaminate soil further downstream [3,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Analysis of the Factors Influencing Soil Heavy Metal Lateral Migration in Rainfalls Based on Geographical Detector Software: A Case Study in Huanjiang County, China

et al. 2017

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Quantitative analysis of the factors influencing heavy metal migration could be useful for controlling heavy metal migration. In this paper, a geographical detector was used to calculate the contributions of and interactions among factors in Huanjiang County, South China, covering an area of 273 km 2 . In this paper, nine factors were analyzed. The results showed that, among these factors, soil type was the main factor influencing the migration of As, Pb and Cd; the other eight factors did not have big differences and were lower than soil type. In addition, there were obvious synergistic effects between the soil type and concentration of water-soluble heavy metals (CWS) and the concentration of water-insoluble heavy metals (CWI) and NDVI. Therefore, these factors of the study area were especially focused on. Furthermore, the results of the key factor identification and the high-risk region identification in the nine factors were reliable, based on the geographical detector software. Therefore, the geographical detector software could be used as an effective tool to quantitatively analyze the contribution of the factors, and identify the high-risk regions for the factors influencing soil heavy metal lateral migration in rainfalls.

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Long-term effects of the Aznalcóllar mine spill—heavy metal content and mobility in soils and sediments of the Guadiamar river valley (SW Spain)

Cited by 123 publications

References 35 publications

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

Distribution of As and Zn in Soils Affected by the Spill of a Pyrite Mine and Effectiveness of the Remediation Measures

Long-term dispersal of heavy metals in a catchment affected by historic lead and zinc mining

Quantitative Analysis of the Factors Influencing Soil Heavy Metal Lateral Migration in Rainfalls Based on Geographical Detector Software: A Case Study in Huanjiang County, China

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