Increased As load to the Uchen stream due to mine drainage and soils in the abandoned Kangwon mining district of Korea |
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Authors: | Namin Koo Kwon-Rae Kim Youn-Jung Choi Sang-Hwan Lee Gary Owens Jeong-Gyu Kim |
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Institution: | (1) Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea;(2) Technology Research Center, Mine Reclamation Corporation, Seoul, Republic of Korea;(3) Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia; |
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Abstract: | To determine the appropriate allocation of resources for the future restoration of the abandoned mining district of Kangwon
in Korea, identification of the main pollutants and the main sources discharging these pollutants is crucial. Therefore, a
2-year study was undertaken to quantify the amount of pollutants in the Uchen stream (a potential sink for contamination),
which runs through the district, and to determine the potential sources of these pollutants, including mine drainage and soil.
Arsenic (As) was the main pollutant in mine drainage and soils showing concentrations above the Korean regulated standard
levels of 50 μg L−1 and 50 mg kg−1 for water and soil, respectively. In addition, the pollution index (PI) showed that mine drainages were polluted by As to
a moderate (2 ≤ PI < 3) or strong (4 ≤ PI < 5) degree. Consequently, As load in mine drainage and soil contributed to increased
amounts of As in the stream. The As loads in mine drainages (11 and 587 g month−1 for mine adit 1 and 2, respectively) accounted for only 9% of the total As load to the stream (6,378 g month−1); and the influence of mine drainages on As contents in the stream was more reliant on the total volume of mine drainage
generated rather than the As concentration in the mine drainage. Approximately 91% of the As in the stream was derived from
the soils within the study area. |
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