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Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)

The Rio Santiago in the Cordillera Negra of Peru is severely contaminated by acid mine drainage in its headwaters. In a strongly acid stream, at about 3800 m above sea level (masl), microterraces were found with terrace walls built up of dead moss, with encrustations and interstitial fine, creamy se...

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Autores principales: Sevink, Jan, Verstraten, Jacobus M., Kooijman, Annemieke M., Loayza-Muro, Raul A., Hoitinga, Leo, Palomino, Edwin J., Jansen, Boris
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4446526/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26028791
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2390-x
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author Sevink, Jan
Verstraten, Jacobus M.
Kooijman, Annemieke M.
Loayza-Muro, Raul A.
Hoitinga, Leo
Palomino, Edwin J.
Jansen, Boris
author_facet Sevink, Jan
Verstraten, Jacobus M.
Kooijman, Annemieke M.
Loayza-Muro, Raul A.
Hoitinga, Leo
Palomino, Edwin J.
Jansen, Boris
author_sort Sevink, Jan
collection PubMed
description The Rio Santiago in the Cordillera Negra of Peru is severely contaminated by acid mine drainage in its headwaters. In a strongly acid stream, at about 3800 m above sea level (masl), microterraces were found with terrace walls built up of dead moss, with encrustations and interstitial fine, creamy sediment. The stream water was turbid due to the presence of similar suspended sediment, which also occurred as a thin basal layer in inter-rim basins. The moss was identified as the rare bryophyte Anomobryum prostratum (Müll. Hal.) Besch. Chemical and mineralogical analyses show that green, living parts of the moss are gradually coated by Al/Fe (hydr)oxides, inducing their senescence and death. The necromass is covered by creamy crusts through precipitation of schwertmannite-type material from the stream water and simultaneous ‘capture’ of fine sediment. The latter consists of a mixture of precipitate and fine detrital primary minerals. These processes are held responsible for the formation of the microterraces, which regarding their composition and environment seem to be unique. Remarkable is the high As content of the creamy crusts and sediment, attributed to strong sorption of As, whereas its solute concentration is relatively low. This calls for more attention to suspended fine sediment in the assessment of environmental risks of stream water use. Lastly, the results raise serious doubts about the use of aquatic bryophytes as bioindicator for chemical pollution in acid mine drainage-polluted streams. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11270-015-2390-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-44465262015-05-29 Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru) Sevink, Jan Verstraten, Jacobus M. Kooijman, Annemieke M. Loayza-Muro, Raul A. Hoitinga, Leo Palomino, Edwin J. Jansen, Boris Water Air Soil Pollut Article The Rio Santiago in the Cordillera Negra of Peru is severely contaminated by acid mine drainage in its headwaters. In a strongly acid stream, at about 3800 m above sea level (masl), microterraces were found with terrace walls built up of dead moss, with encrustations and interstitial fine, creamy sediment. The stream water was turbid due to the presence of similar suspended sediment, which also occurred as a thin basal layer in inter-rim basins. The moss was identified as the rare bryophyte Anomobryum prostratum (Müll. Hal.) Besch. Chemical and mineralogical analyses show that green, living parts of the moss are gradually coated by Al/Fe (hydr)oxides, inducing their senescence and death. The necromass is covered by creamy crusts through precipitation of schwertmannite-type material from the stream water and simultaneous ‘capture’ of fine sediment. The latter consists of a mixture of precipitate and fine detrital primary minerals. These processes are held responsible for the formation of the microterraces, which regarding their composition and environment seem to be unique. Remarkable is the high As content of the creamy crusts and sediment, attributed to strong sorption of As, whereas its solute concentration is relatively low. This calls for more attention to suspended fine sediment in the assessment of environmental risks of stream water use. Lastly, the results raise serious doubts about the use of aquatic bryophytes as bioindicator for chemical pollution in acid mine drainage-polluted streams. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11270-015-2390-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer International Publishing 2015-05-29 2015 /pmc/articles/PMC4446526/ /pubmed/26028791 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2390-x Text en © The Author(s) 2015 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Article
Sevink, Jan
Verstraten, Jacobus M.
Kooijman, Annemieke M.
Loayza-Muro, Raul A.
Hoitinga, Leo
Palomino, Edwin J.
Jansen, Boris
Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title_full Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title_fullStr Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title_full_unstemmed Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title_short Rare Moss-Built Microterraces in a High-Altitude, Acid Mine Drainage-Polluted Stream (Cordillera Negra, Peru)
title_sort rare moss-built microterraces in a high-altitude, acid mine drainage-polluted stream (cordillera negra, peru)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4446526/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26028791
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2390-x
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