Persistent mercury hot spot in Central Europe and Skalka Dam reservoir as a long-term mercury trap

Hošek, Michal; Bednárek, Jan; Popelka, Jan; Elznicová, Jitka; Tůmová, Štěpánka; Rohovec, Jan; Navrátil, Tomáš; Grygar, Tomáš Matys

doi:10.1007/s10653-019-00408-1

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We have not mapped contaminant concentrations in the Skalka Reservoir; however, it is definite that in this shallow water body, sediments and contaminants are transferred directly downstream to the basin. For this reason, the Skalka Reservoir has limited potential performance for future pollution trapping, as was also concluded by Hošek et al [42]. The local erosion of the Skalka inflow area compared with the pre-dam condition could have resulted from the lack of plant cover on the bottom compared to the dense pre-dam meadow vegetation.…”

Section: Inflow Sediment Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The Ohře River catchment and its pollution history (Figure 1) have been described in detail previously [6,41,42]. The Ohře River total length is 316 km, the Skalka Dam is at the river length of 242 km, and the Nechranice Dam at the river length of 103 km (river km is the distance from the river confluence with the Labe River).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…between June and September between 2015 and 2019. Both the pre-dam floodplain and the reservoir have accumulated Hg from the MCF to the level that the consumption of fish from the reservoir has been prohibited since the beginning of instrumental Hg analyses [42]. The Hg pollution is accompanied by Zn contamination, exceeding the background concentrations by several times [41].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reservoirs have been impacted by severe pollution by Hg from the former Marktredwitz Chemical Factory (MCF), [6,8,41,42] and several heavy metals and As from historical ore mining in the Krušné Hory/Erzgebirge Mountains along the Czech-German border [6,8,41]. The reservoirs have efficiently trapped the historical pollution, but this efficiency could decline due to sediment reworking during drawdowns [42] and stepwise downstream transport of sediments [42]. Our study aimed to answer the questions of whether the two studied inflows retain the trapped sediments permanently and to what extent the sediments are reworked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Dynamics of Sediments in Reservoir Inflows: A Case Study of the Skalka and Nechranice Reservoirs, Czech Republic

Pacina

Lenďáková

Štojdl

et al. 2020

IJGI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A wide variety of geographic information system tools and methods was used for pre-dam topography reconstruction and reservoir bottom surveying in two dam reservoirs in the Ohře River, Czech Republic. The pre-dam topography was reconstructed based on archival aerial imagery and old maps. The benefits and drawbacks of these methods were tested and explained with emphasis on the fact that not all processed archival data are suitable for pre-dam topography modeling. Bathymetric surveying of a reservoir bottom is presently routine, but in this study, we used a wide combination of bathymetric mapping methods (sonar, ground penetration radar, and sub-bottom profiler) and topographic survey tools (LiDAR and photogrammetry), bringing great benefits for bottom dynamic analysis and data cross-validation. The data that we gathered made it possible to evaluate the formation of the inflow deltas in the reservoirs studied and assess the sediment reworking during recent seasonal drawdowns. A typical inflow delta was formed in the deeper of the two studied reservoirs, while the summer 2019 drawdown caused the formation and incision of a temporary drawdown channel and erosive downstream transport of approximately 1/10 of the delta body thickness in approximately 1/10 of the delta transverse size. No inflow delta was formed in the shallower of the studied reservoirs, but unexpectedly extensive sediment reworking was observed in the inflow part of the reservoir. Both the studied reservoirs and the pre-dam river floodplain have accumulated historical contamination by risk elements such as As, Hg, Pb; thus, the enhanced erosion of existing sediment bodies expected in the future, owing to more frequent droughts and global climate change, will endanger the ecological quality of the water and solids outflowing from the reservoirs.

show abstract

Section: Inflow Sediment Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Dynamics of Sediments in Reservoir Inflows: A Case Study of the Skalka and Nechranice Reservoirs, Czech Republic

Pacina

Lenďáková

Štojdl

et al. 2020

IJGI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Agency (EPA), 2009; Kocman et al, 2013). Mercury contaminated sites represent a long-term source of Hg release (Gustin et al, 2003;Hošek et al, 2019). In mining sites and surrounding areas, the remobilization of Hgcontaminated sediments and soils produced during mining operations became the dominant source of Hg (Telmer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%