The impact of unconfined mine tailings in residential areas from a mining town in a semi-arid environment: Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico

被引：124

作者：

Meza-Figueroa, Diana ^{[1
]}

Maier, Raina M. ^{[3
]}

de la O-Villanueva, Margarita

Gomez-Alvarez, Agustin ^{[2
]}

Moreno-Zazueta, Alan ^{[4
]}

Rivera, Jacinto ^{[1
]}

Campillo, Alberto ^{[1
]}

Grandlic, Christopher J. ^{[3
]}

Anaya, Ricardo ^{[1
]}

Palafox-Reyes, Juan

机构：

[1] Univ Sonora Rosales & Encinas, Dept Geol, Div Ciencias Exactas & Nat, Programa Maestria Ciencias Geol, Hermosillo 83000, Sonora, Mexico

[2] Univ Sonora Rosales & Encinas, Dept Ingn Quim & Met, Div Ingn, Hermosillo 83000, Sonora, Mexico

[3] Univ Arizona, Dept Soil Water & Environm Sci, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

[4] Univ Sonora Rosales & Encinas, Dept Ingn Minas, Div Ingn, Hermosillo 83000, Sonora, Mexico

来源：

CHEMOSPHERE | 2009年 / 77卷 / 01期

关键词：

Efflorescence salts; Dust; Metals; Wind-dispersion; TRACE-ELEMENTS; DUST; RIVER; CHEMISTRY; TRANSPORT; SEDIMENTS; SOILS; WATER; WIND; CU;

D O I：

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2009.04.068

中图分类号：

X [环境科学、安全科学];

学科分类号：

08 ; 0830 ;

摘要：

Past mining activities in northern Mexico left a legacy of delerict landscapes devoid of vegetation and seasonal formation of salt efflorescence. Metal content was measured in mine tailings, efflorescent salts, soils, road dust, and residential soils to investigate contamination. Climatic effects such as heavy wind and rainfall events can have great impact on the dispersion of metals in semi-arid areas, since soils are typically sparsely vegetated. Geochemical analysis of this site revealed that even though total metal content in mine tailings was relatively low (e.g. Cu = 1000 mg kg(-1)), metals including Mn, Ba, Zn, and Cu were all found at significantly higher levels in efflorescence salts formed by evaporation on the tailings impoundment surface following the rainy season (e.g. Cu = 68,000 mg kg(-1)). Such efflorescent fine-grained salts are susceptible to wind erosion resulting in increased metal spread to nearby residential soils. Our results highlight the importance of seasonally dependent salt-formation and wind erosion in determining risk levels associated with potential inhalation or ingestion of airborne particulates originating from contaminated sites such as tailings impoundments. In low metal-content mine tailings located in and and semi-arid environments, efflorescence salts could represent a human health risk and a challenge for plant establishment in mine tailings. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

引用

页码：140 / 147

页数：8