Do NaOH amendments control the chemical and biological production of sulphate in aerated mine lake sediments?

. The aim of our work was to evaluate the effects of NaOH addition to aerated mine lake sediment on the production of sulphate and to discriminate between the spontaneous chemical oxidation and microbially mediated oxidation of sulphurous compounds. From the viewpoint of practical applicability, we asked ourselves the following key questions: (1) does NaOH addition control the chemical and biological oxidation of sulphate in aerated sediment? and (2) can NaOH be used in practice to control sulphate production? From our experimental results, we can conclude that (1) NaOH amendment controls the rate of both chemical (enhancement) and biological (suppression) processes and (2) NaOH amendment under practical conditions can not be applied to reduce the total amount of produced sulphate from aerated sediment.