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    Rate controls on the chemical weathering of natural polymineralic material. II. Rate-controlling mechanisms and mineral sources and sinks for element release from four UK mine sites, and implications for comparison of laboratory and field scale weathering studies

    134759_134759.pdf (136.8Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Evans, Katy
    Watkins, D.
    Banwart, S.
    Date
    2006
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Evans, Katy and Watkins, D and Banwart, S. 2006. Rate controls on the chemical weathering of natural polymineralic material. II. Rate-controlling mechanisms and mineral sources and sinks for element release from four UK mine sites, and implications for comparison of laboratory and field scale weathering studies. Applied Geochemistry. 21 (2): pp. 377-403.
    Source Title
    Applied Geochemistry
    DOI
    10.1016/j.apgeochem.2005.10.002
    ISSN
    0883-2927
    Faculty
    Department of Applied Geology
    Faculty of Science and Engineering
    WA School of Mines
    Remarks

    The link to the journal’s home page is: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/768/description#description. Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45639
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Predictions of mine-related water pollution are often based on laboratory assays of mine-site material. However, many of the factors that control the rate of element release from a site, such as pH, water-rock ratio, the presence of secondary minerals, particle size, and the relative roles of surface-kinetic and mineral equilibria processes can exhibit considerable variation between small-scale laboratory experiments and large-scale field sites. Monthly monitoring of mine effluent and analysis of natural geological material from four very different mine sites have been used to determine the factors that control the rate of element release and mineral sources and sinks for major elements and for the contaminant metals Zn, Pb, and Cu. The sites are: a coal spoil tip; a limestone-hosted Pb mine, abandoned forthe last 200 a; a coal mine; and a slate-hosted Cu mine that was abandoned 150 a ago. Hydrogeological analysis of these sites has been performed to allow field fluxes of elements suitable for comparison with laboratory results to be calculated. Hydrogeological and mineral equilibrium control of element fluxes are common at the field sites, far more so than in laboratory studies. This is attributed to long residence times and low water-rock ratios at the field sites. The high water stor-ativity at many mine sites, and the formation of soluble secondary minerals that can efficiently adsorb metals onto their surfaces provides a large potential source of pollution. This can be released rapidly if conditions change significantly, as in,for example, the case of flooding or disturbance.

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