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The environmental issues associated with mining have damaged the industry’s substantial global economic value. In particular, the mining industry has a negative legacy of contaminated land. The effective reclamation of contaminated soil is therefore required before former mining land can be further developed for residential and commercial purposes. The objective of this study was to technically evaluate the feasibility of reclamation techniques for agricultural soils contaminated with toxic elements (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) associated with metal mining. The reclamation methods investigated were covering without stabilization, covering with stabilization, and exchange with stabilization. The thickness of the soil layer used in covering and exchange was in the range of 30–50 cm. Limestone, furnace slag, and a mixture of limestone and furnace slag were applied as soil amendments. After reclamation, the contamination level in surface tillage soils and crops was monitored regularly. Four years of monitoring data revealed that surface soil contamination levels could be maintained at acceptable levels, although at some sites, the metal levels in crops exceeded legislative limits. Soil reclamation at former mining sites in Korea has not yet been perfected, but the results of this study show that there is potential for safe agricultural operations on large sites in a cost-effective manner, as long as the appropriate control of surface soil contamination and adequate agronomic management is undertaken.

Offshore tracts in Alaska's lower Cook Inlet are scheduled to be opened for exploratory petroleum drilling in the near future. Because of the potential for oil spills resulting from this activity, a field study of the coastal zone was conducted in June 1976. A total of 1216 km of shoreline was classified into 3 types: erosional (45 percent), neutral (38 percent), and depositional (17 percent). These were further subdivided into 16 subclasses on the basis of small scale morphological features. This classification was used in conjunction with a vulnerability index of potential oil spill damage, developed through study of three major oil spills, to predict the longevity of oil in the different coastal environments of the Inlet. On a scale from 1 to 10, 45 percent of the shoreline has low values of 1 to 4, which means that oil would be dispersed by natural processes within less than six months after a spill on these coasts. Values from 4 to 6 were assigned to 13.4 percent of the shoreline, where oil residence time may be up to one year. A 6 to 10 rating was assigned to 41.5 percent of the shoreline, where oil contamination may remain for periods of two to ten years, or possibly longer should no major clean-up procedures be initiated. We propose that the use of this type of vulnerability indexing, in conjunction with a biological susceptibility index and oil spill trajectory models, would provide a rational basis for decision making concerning the location of on- and off-shore oil facilities and the design of oil spill contingency plans.

In this work, a recent residual distribution scheme and a second-order finite volume method are compared to model the transport of a pollutant in free surface flows. The phenomenon is described in two dimensions using the shallow water (SW) system augmented by a scalar conservation law for the pollutant transport. The two numerical methods are developed to minimize the numerical diffusion which is a critical problem for transport phenomena. The conservation of the mass and the monotonicity of the solution are two other important numerical requirements necessary to reproduce the physics of the problem. These three features (low numerical diffusion—mass conservation—monotonicity) will be theoretically analyzed and then numerically verified through a series of test cases. Both methods are used on completely unstructured grids, but the regularity of the grid with respect to the streamlines direction produces for the two methods different behaviours which will be studied. This work has been realized within the Telemac-2D system, constituted by a finite element kernel and a finite volume kernel. Telemac2D uses several numerical schemes, including the new schemes presented here. The aim of this paper is to present state-of-the-art research in the field of finite volumes (FV) and of residual distribution schemes for advection problems.

Karst groundwater resources in the Zagros Mountains are vital for supplying different demands in the region which need sustainable management and protection. Quantitative and qualitative characterization of karst aquifers in this region was understudied due to a lack of site-specific logging data and speleological investigations. In this study, state-of-the-art statistical methods developed to characterize karst aquifer based on analyses of the spring recession hydrograph and spring water quality are presented. These methods include Mangin’s method for the classification of karst aquifers, relationships of precipitation and discharge data, groundwater quality index (GQI), hydrochemical diagrams (Piper, Durov, and Gibbs), and calcite and dolomite saturation indices, Chloro-Alkaline indices (CAI), and 10 bivariate plots of hydrochemistry of spring waters. 42 major karst springs mainly located in folded part of the Zagros region (western Iran) are selected for application of the reviewed methods. Results indicated that the saturated zone exerts almost the main control over the discharge of 76% of the studied springs. The base-flow contributes between 80.0 and 100% of total water storage in the study aquifers. 78.5% of the studied aquifers have a high karstification degree. An insignificant lag time is observed between the precipitation on the karst basin and spring discharge. The hydrochemical diagrams show that the waters are dominated by HCO3 and Ca and the majority of the waters are alkaline, originating from carbonate rocks–water interaction through the ion exchange process. Moreover, the water sources of the studied springs are young and feed through precipitation (during the rainy season) and drainage from the upper karst setting (during the dry season). Such repeatable methods adopted in this study can provide crucial information for the karst aquifers, especially those suffering from scarcity of aquifer hydrodynamic data.

This paper contains brief geological and hydrogeochemical information regarding hot waters circulating through the Seferihisar geothermal system using previous studies, as well as recorded and up-to-date data. The obtained analytical results were subjected to the computer programme AquaChem3.70 for determining the geothermal waters. The NaCl-type geothermal waters circulating in the system have a temperature range of 44 to 207 °C, with total dissolved solids (TDS) varying from 3229 to 29494.9 mg/l. The conductivity range of the samples is 5690–34400 µS/cm as the pH changes from 6.54 to 8.5. Chemical geothermometer calculations indicate reservoir temperatures varying between 59 and 246.2 °C. The water‒rock interactions led to various mineralogical changes in the area. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray (XRD and SEM–EDX) analyses of the collected rock and clay samples have been interpreted as an integrant to the 2-year field observations. The results of the analyses show that the surface manifestations in the Tuzla and Doğanbey geothermal fields consist of the hydrothermal alteration products induced from the carbonates of sediments, ferromagnesian minerals of greenschist facies and silicates. Additionally, a uranium-oxide mineral, richetite, has been identified. Finally, the apparent geothermal potential of the system has been assessed.

Unplanned abstraction of groundwater due to various land use land cover activities and variations in monsoonal rainfall have greatly affected the availability and quality of groundwater resources in semi-arid regions of India. In the present study, a study of the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater was undertaken in the Sonipat district of Haryana in India together with the use of stable isotope (δ18O and δD) measurements and GIS analysis. A total of 53 groundwater samples were collected from seven blocks of the district, and 14 water quality parameters and stable isotopes (δ18O and δD) were analysed to infer hydrogeochemical processes taking place in the area. The integration of hydrochemistry with GIS is very helpful to understand the factors governing in the area. The majority of the samples showed Na–Cl type of hydrochemical facies. The trilinear plot for major cations and anions in groundwater indicates dominance of sodium, calcium, chloride and bicarbonate ions. Nitrate plumes in the groundwater appear to be migrating in groundwater from the central and south-western parts of the area towards the urbanized areas. A total of 64% of the samples exceed the maximum permissible limit of 1.5 mg/L given by WHO for fluoride. Besides natural sources such as silicate and carbonate weathering, ion exchange, and reverse ion exchange, the leaching of surficial salts and untreated industrial wastes along with unregulated abstraction are contributing to poor groundwater quality in the study area. An assessment of saturation indices has shown that groundwater in the area is unsaturated with respect to anhydrite, halite and gypsum suggesting significant contribution of Ca2+, Mg2+ and other ions in the groundwater. A scatter plot of δ18O versus Cl also suggests mixing of saline water with fresh groundwater.

An alternative iron removal treatment method using liquid-liquid extraction with the room-temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, as a solvent medium was studied. The chelating agent 1,10-phenanthroline was used as the extractant. The extraction of Fe(III) and Fe(II) was influenced significantly by the pH of the aqueous phase. The successful removal of iron was achieved; more than 95 % of the initial iron concentration was removed from the groundwater samples. However, detailed research is needed before the ionic liquid method can replace the conventional groundwater treatment protocol because the recovery rate was very low upon reuse (approximately 25–60 %). This low recovery was due to the ion exchange process; the appearance of anions from ionic liquids was also detected in groundwater samples.

With the development of mining of iron deposits in China, groundwater invasion and the impacts of groundwater drainage, such as regional groundwater table lowering, overlapping cones of depression, subsidence, and water quality deterioration are environmental problems which endanger mining production and human life. Effective prevention of water invasion or timely determination of the mechanism of water bursting and rational design of drainage plans are the most urgent mining challenges. The mechanism of water invasion and the environment impacts on the groundwater system of the Gaoyang Iron Mine, China were dealt with in this paper. A systematical investigation of the hydrogeological conditions and monitoring of groundwater dynamics of the mine were completed. Results show that the limestone of the middle Ordovician System constitutes the under floor of the iron deposit. This limestone is the main source of water invasion into the mine. Groundwater dynamic equilibrium conditions are broken due to mine drainage. Water invasion and drainage have caused a serious impact on the groundwater environment of the area.

Atmospheric deposition and mineral weathering are important sources of base cations in vegetated ecosystems. To assess plant preferences for weathering-fed versus atmospheric-fed mineral nutrition during different growth stages (sapling to mature), we have studied 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios, and Ca and Sr concentrations in the vegetation, litter, organic matter and mineral soils from five functionally different species: Korean red pine, Korean chestnut, black locust, annual fleabane, and silvergrass. Isotope values of vegetations (0.7124–0.7162) closely matched with that of litter (0.7143–0.7161), soil (0.7126–0.7165), and parent material (0.7161). Plant height (as a proxy for maturity) and plant functional forms did not show discriminating effect on the variation in the Sr isotope ratio. An assessment of the relative contribution of the in-situ weathering input versus the ex-situ atmospheric input using a mixing equation suggests that vegetation, irrespective of maturity, is dependent on the weathering supplied elements as a primary source of nutrients. At all the sites, the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of organic layers and mineral soil were similar to the isotopic values of the vegetation, suggesting an active recycling pool and suggesting that vegetation in the region conservatively extracts nutrients from weathered parent materials, which are then internally recycled via organic layers.