Organic Matter Diagenesis in Acidic Mine Lakes

The significance of organic matter origin for carbon oxidation via sulfate and iron reduction in the sediments of three acid mine lakes is analyzed. Carbon reactivity was estimated by fitting first‐order expressions to measured rates. Carbon oxidation rates via sulfate and ferric iron reduction ranged from 3.4 to 4.7 mmol m^–2 d^–1 and resembled those reported for freshwater lakes. The estimated reaction constants increased from about 10^–3 a^–1 at the interface to the former mine grounds to 0.05 to 0.2 a^–1 at the current sediment‐water interface. Aquatic organic matter accounted for an estimated 45...75% of total carbon oxidation rates while it amounted only to about 5...14% of the total organic matter that had been deposited. The results of this study suggest that in highly acidic mine lakes the reactivity of the deposited organic matter can rapidly increase after flooding, enhancing carbon oxidation and internal neutralization rates in the sediments.     

Groundwater Inflow Controls Acidity Fluxes in an Iron Rich and Acidic Lake

To ascertain the influence of hydrological boundary conditions on acidity fluxes in lakes influenced by acid mine drainage, acidity budgets were developed for two sediments in areas of differential groundwater inflow (approx. 1 L m^?2 d^?1 and 10 L m^?2 d^?1). In both sediments iron was deposited as schwertmannite leading to iron(III) enriched sediments (3.9…6.2 mmol g^?1, referred to dry weight). Compared to the surface water, the inflowing groundwater had higher pH (4.5 vs. 3), ferrous iron (6…20 mmol L^?1 vs. 0.8…2.0 mmol L^?1), and sulfate (5…60 mmol L^?1 vs. 8…13 mmol L^?1) concentrations. The inflow changed the sediment pore water chemistry and triggered a further increase in pH to above 5.5. In both sediments acidity generation in the surface water (10…30 mol m^?2 a^?1) strongly prevailed over acidity consumption in the sediments (> ?0.6 mol m^?2 a^?1). With advective groundwater inflow, however, more acidity was consumed due to TRIS formation (?0.12 mol m^?2 a^?1 vs. ?0.017 mol m^?2 a^?1), iron carbonate burial (upper estimate: ?0.14 mol m^?2 a^?1 vs. ?0.022 mol m^?2 a^?1), and unspecific ferrous iron retention (?0.39 mol m^?2 a^?1 vs. ?0.08 mol m^?2 a^?1). Also, less acidity was generated due to schwertmannite transformation (?2.4 mol m^?2 a^?1 vs. ?0.11 mol m^?2 a^?1). The acidity balance of internal processes in the sediment with groundwater inflow was negative, whereas it was positive in the other sediment. The study demonstrates that in acidic and iron rich lakes the hydrological boundary conditions strongly affect geochemical processes as subsumed in acidity fluxes.