Spatiotemporal evolution of U and Th isotopes in a mine effluent highly polluted by Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)
| Autor: | J.L. Guerrero, N. Suárez-Vaz, D.C. Paz-Gómez, S.M. Pérez-Moreno, J.P. Bolívar |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
| Předmět: |
History
Environmental Engineering 3308.11 Control de la Contaminación del Agua Polymers and Plastics Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis U isotopes Conservative behavior Th isotopes Pollution Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Environmental impact Acid mine drainage Environmental Chemistry Business and International Management Waste Management and Disposal |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130782 |
| Popis: | The spatiotemporal evolution of both U and Th isotopes in a mine effluent highly polluted by acid mine drainage (AMD) was evaluated. The acidic tributary, which born from the outflows of an abandoned sulfide mine, flows into the Odiel River. AMD comprises an important source of natural radionuclides, presenting concentrations of 238U and 232Th, two and four orders of magnitude higher, respectively, than the background values of surface continental waters. These natural radionuclides behave conservatively along the mine effluent (pH < 2.5) throughout the hydrological year. Under AMD conditions uranium is in the hexavalent state U(VI) and the main dissolved species are uranyl sulfate complexes. The polluted tributary has a significant impact on the Odiel River acidifying its waters during the low flow season and increasing up to one order of magnitude the activity concentrations of U and Th isotopes. U presented a conservative behavior in the Odiel River during the low flow season (pH ≈ 3), however it is removed from the liquid phase in the wet season (pH ≈ 6), probably due its coprecipitation/adsorption onto Al-phases. Th shows a high sensitivity to small increases of pH, and it is strongly coprecipitated/adsorbed with or onto Fe-oxyhydroxydizes in the river. This research was funded by the University of Huelva and the Operative FEDER Program-Andalucía 2014–2020 (UHU-1255876, UHU-202020); The European Regional Development Fund through the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci´on (research grant PID2020–116461RBC21 and 116461RA-C22), and the Andalusian government (I+D+i- JAPAIDI-Retos project PY20_00096). Jos´e Luis Guerrero thank the Spanish Ministry of Universities for the Margarita Salas research grant. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBUA. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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