A laboratory study of covers made of low-sulphide tailings to prevent acid mine drainage

Covers with capillary barrier effects (CCBE) are considered to be one of the most effective ways to control acid mine drainage (AMD) production from mine wastes. The use of low-sulphide tailings in CCBE has been proposed recently for cases where other types of material may be unavailable near the mining site. This paper presents leaching column test results showing that CCBEs with a moisture-retaining layer made of slightly reactive tailings, with three different sulphide contents, can effectively limit the production of AMD from the acid-generating tailings placed underneath. With these layered covers, the leachate pH was maintained near neutrality throughout the testing period. When compared to uncovered tailings, the efficiency of the cover systems for reducing the amount of contaminants in the percolated water was determined to be greater than 99% for zinc, copper and iron. This study shows that the use of low-sulphide tailings can improve the ability of a CCBE to limit gas diffusion by consuming a fraction of the migrating oxygen.     

Flux-Variance Method for Latent Heat and Carbon Dioxide Fluxes in Unstable Conditions

Applied previously to momentum and heat fluxes, the present study extends the flux-variance method to latent heat and CO₂ fluxes in unstable conditions. Scalar similarity is also examined among temperature (θ), water vapour (q), and CO₂ (c). Temperature is adopted as the reference scalar, leading to two feasible strategies to estimate latent heat and CO₂ fluxes: the first one relies on flux-variance similarity relations for scalars, while the second is based on the parameterization of relative transport efficiency in terms of scalar correlation coefficient and a non-dimensional quantity. The relationship between the θ-to-q transport efficiency (λ _{θ q} ) and θ-q correlation coefficient (R _{θ q} ) is used to describe the intermediate hydrological conditions. We also parameterize the θ-to-c transport efficiency (λ _{θ c} ) as a function of the θ-c correlation coefficient (R _{θ c} ) by introducing a new non-dimensional ratio (α). The flux-variance method is a viable technique for flux gap-filling, when turbulence measurements of wind velocity are not available. It is worth noting that the extended method is not exempt from a correction for density effects when used for estimating water or carbon exchange.     

A Simple Method of Estimating Scalar Fluxes Over Forests

A simple aerodynamic-variance method is proposed to fill gaps in continuous CO₂ flux measurements in rainy conditions, when open-path analysers do not function. The method requires turbulent conditions (friction velocity greater than 0.1 ms^–1), and uses measurements of mean wind speed, and standard deviations of temperature and CO₂ concentration fluctuations to complement, and at times replace, eddy-covariance measurements of friction velocity, sensible heat flux and CO₂ flux. Friction velocity is estimated from the mean wind speed with a flux-gradient relationship modified for the roughness sublayer. Since normalised standard deviations do not follow Monin-Obukhov similarity theory in the roughness sublayer, a simple classification scheme according to the scalar turbulence scale was used. This scheme is shown to produce sensible heat and CO₂ flux estimates that are well correlated with the measured values.     

A new experimental technique for extracting liquids from peridotite at very low degrees of melting: application to partial melting of depleted peridotite

A new technique that allows extraction of liquids from peridotite at degrees of melting as low as 0.2 wt% is presented. Microfractures that formed in the graphite sample container at the beginning of the experiments were used as traps for the liquid phase. Glass-filled cracks (or 'microdikes') unaffected by quench crystallisation were produced in all experiments and were analysed using standard electron microprobe techniques. Reversal experiments demonstrated that, at moderate degrees of melting (4.4 and 6.5 wt%), the segregated liquid was in equilibrium with the neighbouring peridotite. At very low degrees of melting (0.3 wt%), the liquid in the microdikes failed to fully equilibrate with the peridotite after 5 days and the sandwich technique was used in combination with the microdike technique to approach more closely the equilibrium composition of near-solidus partial melts. The microdike technique was used to study melting of a depleted peridotite at 1 GPa and 1,220 to 1,360 °C.Editorial responsibility: T.L. Grove