Trace metals in acid sediments and waters, Pimpama catchment, southeast Queensland, Australia

The Pimpama River floodplain has developed over the last several thousand years as a result of sea-level fluctuations that shaped the lower catchment and enabled the formation of sedimentary pyrite. The subsequent production of sulfuric acid due to the oxidation of this pyrite enhances the breakdown of metal-bearing sediments and can lead to leaching of major and trace metals into the waters of the region. The seasonal pattern of rainfall and current land-use activities are important aspects that intensify the natural production of acid and influence the release and distribution of metals. To identify the source and migration of metals in the Pimpama catchment and to understand the impact of pyrite oxidation on the distribution of metals in sediments and waters, several components of the drainage system were analyzed: bedrock, sediments from river bed and bank, and water. The elements analyzed in this study (V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) are all present in the bedrock material which explains their occurrence in the unconsolidated sediments of the floodplain. These metals concentrate in the upper section of the sedimentary sequence and their presence is related to clay minerals such as smectite, organic matter and iron phases. However, Zn, Mo and Co occur in higher amounts than the local background and within standard shale. This comparison suggests that the diagenetic processes alone cannot explain the higher concentrations and it is concluded that these metals also have an anthropogenic source. The formation of sulfuric acid creates conditions for higher mobility of some metals, such as Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, but does not affect less mobile ones such as Mo and Pb. Over the longterm, the production of acid influences the breakdown of mineral phases and enhances the process of weathering. Over the short term, every rain event leaches acid from sediments and mobilizes metals resulting in a substantial reduction in the quality of river water. Received: 2 October 1998 · Accepted: 16 February 1999     

Yearly changes in the seasonal frequency and duration of short-term acid pulses in some Nova Scotia, Canada streams

 The seasonal frequency and duration of low pH events at three sites located in southwestern Nova Scotia were analyzed using measured and synthetic daily pH data. The basins varied in size from 0.3 to 300 km² and were subject to frequent snowmelt events in winter and spring, as well as occasional runoff events during summer and fall. Results showed that, in order to fill in missing data from periods where collection was interrupted, statistical approximations using discharge were not totally acceptable, as generated data consistently missed the extreme values measured. Despite a lack of totally accurate event pH estimates for periods where daily data were missing, analysis showed that in this region, low pH episodes can occur year-round including summer. The highest probabilities of low pH episodes nevertheless occurred in the winter and spring when snowmelts were frequent. Received: 12 November 1999 · Accepted: 18 July 2000     

Controls on the nature and distribution of an alga in coal mine-waste environments and its potential impact on water quality

 A dominant non-bacterial microorganism that may strongly impact environmental conditions in acid mine drainage at several Indiana coal mine sites is a single-celled protozoan, Euglena mutabilis. Field data suggest E. mutabilis has high tolerance for elevated total dissolved solids (TDS), to 18 g/l, and acid conditions to pH 1.7. Distribution is restricted to unmixed effluent pH<4.6, with prolific growth between pH 3.0 and 3.5. Additional factors influencing E. mutabilis include preference for areas with lower mineral/colloidal precipitation rates and a stable substrate of iron-rich precipitates. Initial studies indicate that in areas of prolific growth it contributes to oversaturation of dissolved oxygen by up to 200%. The presence of small orange intracellular crystalline-like structures, similar in color to iron oxyhydroxides, suggests that E. mutabilis may be sequestering iron, and possibly other metals. Further work is needed to determine if E. mutabilis contributes to natural mitigation of poor water quality at these and other coal mine sites. Received: 13 January 2000 · Accepted: 2 May 2000     

Partitioning of heavy metals on soil samples from column tests

In this study, column tests were used to determine the retention capability of three types of estuarine alluvia collected adjacent to landfill sites in South Wales. Selective sequential extraction (SSE) was used to study the retention mechanisms of heavy metals in the soil columns obtained from leaching experiments. Acid digestion was later used to check the validity of the SSE results. Breakthrough curves show good retention of heavy metal ions (Pb, Cu, and Zn) by all soils, where almost 99% of heavy metals were retained with the C_e/C_o values in the order of 10⁻³. The retention strength of these soils was observed to be constant up to five pore volumes (PV). This corresponds with the pH of the effluents and pore water of soil slices, which also show good buffering capacity against very acidic leachate up to 5PV. The heavy metal extraction profiles from SSE show very similar trends with the retention profiles from the leaching experiments, where heavy metals were retained mainly at the top part where the leachate entered the column. SSE indicates qualitatively that heavy metals precipitated with carbonates and amorphous materials (oxides/hydroxides) are higher than heavy metal retention via exchangeable mechanisms. The mass balance calculation gives range of deviation of 1–16% of the total soil extraction. The distribution of the heavy metals with various soil constituents are ranked in the following order: Carbonates>Amorphous oxides hydroxides>Organic matter>Exchangeable phases.     

Soil water dye tracing,with special reference to the use of rhodamine WT,lissamine FF and amino G acid

Three fluorescent dyes (Rhodamine WT, Lissamine FF and Amino G Acid) are compared for use in soil water tracing. Severe limitations are evident, but practical applications are possible. Background fluorescence, adsorption, desorption, pH and other non-adsorptive effects are reviewed in the contexts of soil column work and field tracing of soil water. Lissamine FF and Amino G Acid are to be preferred for soil column work because of their lower adsorption; Rhodamine WT exhibits higher adsorption but is useful in field situations where organic fluorescence backgrounds are high. Semi-quantitative work may be undertaken in soil columns once a priming and flushing procedure has been adopted.     

Weathering of sulfidic shale and copper mine waste: secondary minerals and metal cycling in Great Smoky Mountains National Park,Tennessee, and North Carolina,USA

Metal cycling via physical and chemical weathering of discrete sources (copper mines) and regional (non-point) sources (sulfide-rich shale) is evaluated by examining the mineralogy and chemistry of weathering products in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, and North Carolina, USA. The elements in copper mine waste, secondary minerals, stream sediments, and waters that are most likely to have negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems are aluminum, copper, zinc, and arsenic because these elements locally exceed toxicity guidelines for surface waters or for stream sediments. Acid-mine drainage has not developed in streams draining inactive copper mines. Acid-rock drainage and chemical weathering processes that accompany debris flows or human disturbances of sulfidic rocks are comparable to processes that develop acid-mine drainage elsewhere. Despite the high rainfall in the mountain range, sheltered areas and intermittent dry spells provide local venues for development of secondary weathering products that can impact aquatic ecosystems.Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article if you access the article at . A link in the frame on the left on that page takes you directly to the supplementary material.

广东省酸雨分布特征及其影响因素

根据广东省气象部门所属4个酸雨监测站10多年的资料,研究了广东省降水pH值、酸雨频率的时空分布特征及其影响因素.分析结果表明,广州、韶关和电白的酸雨频率都在56%以上,降水pH年均值小于4.9,汕头的酸雨虽然较轻,但降水pH年均值仍小于5.6,酸雨频率也达到31.7%.4个站均表现出春季降水pH值低、酸雨频率高的季节分布特征.近年来,广州、韶关、汕头的降水pH值变化不大,酸雨频率却呈上升趋势.广东酸雨的形成不仅与SO2排放量高、气溶胶酸化缓冲能力低有关,也与天气系统和气象条件有关.     

Scaling and correlation of atmospheric acid deposition evolutions

Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and power spectrum density are applied to verify the presence of temporal scaling behavior and long-range persistence (LRP) of weekly hydrogen ion deposition (WHD), NO₃^- and SO₄^2- deposition series in National Atmospheric Deposition Program, USA, for the period 1978–2001. The results show a common scaling behavior for all sites analyzed. Two distinct scaling regions are identified by DFA1, one corresponding to 1 month to 1 year and the other to 1 year to 5 years. The WHD series obey power-law in two temporal regimes respectively with mean DFA1 scaling exponents α ₁≈0.68 and α ₂≈0.45, implying the presence of LRP in the acid deposition series and there is a tendency for a large deposition event to be followed by another large event, and vice versa. For DFA2–DFA4, however, the annual crossover, which divides the temporal scale into two regimes, disappears gradually with the order q of DFAq increasing, and the two scaling regimes turn to share the same scaling exponent close to α ₁. The result indicates that the scaling behavior exits in the two regimes with the same scaling exponent α ₁, and LRP prevails during the examined 1-month to 5-years scale. NO₃^- and SO₄^2- deposition evolve the same way as WHD does, implying the pollutants involving in acid deposition may share some prominent mechanism controlling their evolutions. We ascribe the long-range power-law scaling of acid deposition evolutions to the self-organized critical behavior of atmosphere under pollution stress and it should be considered in the trend prediction of acid deposition as an important factor.     

Prediction of acid mine drainage generation potential in selected mines in the Ashanti Metallogenic Belt using static geochemical methods

Acid mine/rock drainage (AMD/ARD) is the biggest environmental threat facing the mining industry. This study investigates AMD/ARD possibilities in three mines in the Ashanti Belt, using acid base accounting (ABA) and net acid generation pH (NAGpH) tests. Twenty-eight samples of rock units and mine spoil from these mines were collected for ABA and NAGpH tests. Two tailing dumps at Prestea and Nsuta were confirmed by both methods as acid generating with NAGpH of 4.5 and 4.6 and neutralization potential ratio values of 4.38 and 4.60, respectively. Six other samples are classified as potentially acid generating using a variety of established classification criteria. The rest of the samples either exhibited very low sulphur and carbonate content or had excess carbonate over sulphur. Consistency between results from ABA and NAGpH tests validates these tests as adequate tools for preliminary evaluation of AMD/ARD possibilities in any mining project in the Ashanti Belt.     

Bioelectricity generation and remediation of sulfide contaminated tidal flat sediment

A dramatic decrease in the catch of shellfish has been observed due to the high amount of Acid Volatile Sulfide(AVS) in the tidal flats in Japan.In the current study,an evaluation of simultaneous bioelectricity generation and remediation of sulfide contaminated tidal flat sediment has been done.The sediment samples collected from Tokyo Bay and Yamaguchi Bay,Japan,have been used in the laboratory test.A 2 L cylindrical shaped Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell(SMFC) has been used to evaluate the remediation of both sediment samples in the laboratory.Three different electrode materials carbon felt,carbon fiber and bamboo charcoal were used in the experiments to compare their efficiency to reduce the AVS from the sediment and generate bioelectricity.It was observed that the AVS reduction was higher at 5 cm depths for the Tokyo Bay sediment(100%) compared to the Yamaguchi Bay sediment(60%).The larger grain size for the Tokyo Bay sediment was the probable reason for this.The maximum voltage was around 100 and80 mV for Tokyo Bay and Yamaguchi Bay,respectively.