Implications of EU-Water Framework Directive for the East German Postmining Landscape Lausitz: Coping with a sparse knowledge of the underground

Mining dumps are major sources of pollutants within the mining area of Lausitz, especially sulphate and iron. Their existence in catchment areas comprising groundwater bodies or lakes often imposes negative effects on the water quality. The European Union Water Framework Directive [EU-WFD, 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. The European Parliament and Council, L327/1, p. 72] aims to achieve ‘good quality’ status for all water bodies across Europe by 2015. Consequently, predicting the development of ground and lake water quality is necessary and must be based on the geochemical composition of the mining dumps. Therefore, the dumps need to be quantified as pollutant sources.A method to calculate the amount of sulphate in mine dumps is presented. It is based on historic geological and geochemical data characterising the pre-mining situation. Additional information on the dump body, derived from the vertical extension of mining activities and the current Digital Elevation Model (DEM), allows the composition of the dump to be determined. This procedure is demonstrated for the Bärwalde site. An average total sulphur content of 0.62% (5.9 million tonnes) was calculated for the Bärwalde dump. About 40% of it is estimated to be pyrite sulphur. Applying an average pyrite oxidation rate for the whole dump body of 7% led to an additional water-soluble mass of 0.18 million tonnes of sulphate sulphur.Applying this technique to all mine dumps managed by the postmining administration company LMBV, will improve our knowledge of the catchment area for the different lakes of Lausitz and will form an essential basis for reactive transport calculations.     

Column tests to enhance sulphide precipitation with liquid organic electron donators to remediate AMD-influenced groundwater

Dump groundwaters in the former East-German lignite-mining district are characterized by high amounts of ferrous iron and sulphate. Both the pyrite weathering products endanger the surface water quality when discharged into lakes. Only the precipitation of both contaminants in the subsurface can prevent the further contamination of surface waters. The two-step process of microbial catalyzed sulphate reduction and iron sulphide precipitation is limited by the low availability of natural organic substances as electron donators. Therefore, a new remediation technique is developed based on the injection of a liquid organic electron donator (methanol) into the contaminated aquifer. The saturated aquifer is used as a bioreactor, where iron monosulphides are precipitated in the groundwater-filled pore space. Column experiments were performed under natural pressure and temperature conditions with natural anoxic groundwater and original sediments to test the remediation technology. The test showed that a complete iron removal (4 mmol/l), even under rather acid conditions (pH 3.8), is possible after having established an active sulphate reducer population. The turnover of the added organic substance with sulphate is complete and the amount of the resulting sulphide controls the effluent pH. In addition, intensified microbial activity triggers the turnover of natural organic substances. Also, natural Fe(III) hydroxides react with the sulphide produced. Considering the long natural retention times (decades), artificially enhanced FeS precipitation is spontaneous, although it shows kinetic behaviour in the range of days. In light of the promising results, the development of a field scale application of this technique is considered to be necessary. It will have to focus on the improved precipitation control of the FeS in the subsurface.     

Magnetic screening of a pollution hotspot in the Lausitz area, Eastern Germany: correlation analysis between magnetic proxies and heavy metal contamination in soils

This investigation was carried out within the scope of EU-FP5 project MAGPROX. In parallel with the work of Kalinski et al. (2004, submitted), in which the magnetic signatures of the same soil profiles were analysed in more detail. The ‘hot spot’ under investigation was situated in the Lausitz area, Eastern Germany, between two major power plants, Schwarze Pumpe and Boxberg. This heavily industrialized region is known as the Black Triangle, named after the large lignite deposits and the old-technology power plants, among other petrochemical plants, refineries, textile manufacturing and glasswork industries. The relationship between magnetic parameters and heavy metal concentrations (Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Cd, Co and Ni) in soil profiles was determined statistically using linear regression analysis. Strong positive correlation was observed between heavy metal concentrations as viewed preliminarily from the heavy metal and magnetic susceptibility distributions with depth (soil profiles), and from the correlation coefficients obtained.MAGPROX team–FP5 RTD Project No. EVK2-CT-1999-00019