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The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles

Mineralogical studies of contaminated soils affected by smelter emission and dust from mining activities indicate that minerals of the spinel group are one of the common hosts of metal-bearing contaminants. Spinel group minerals typically originate from high temperature processes, but an increasing...

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Autores principales: Schindler, Michael, Mantha, Haley, Hochella, Michael F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6743039/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30868335
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12932-019-0061-3
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author Schindler, Michael
Mantha, Haley
Hochella, Michael F.
author_facet Schindler, Michael
Mantha, Haley
Hochella, Michael F.
author_sort Schindler, Michael
collection PubMed
description Mineralogical studies of contaminated soils affected by smelter emission and dust from mining activities indicate that minerals of the spinel group are one of the common hosts of metal-bearing contaminants. Spinel group minerals typically originate from high temperature processes, but an increasing number of studies indicate that metal-bearing spinel group minerals can also form under ambient Earth surface conditions in surficial soils. In this contribution to honor Donald Sparks, we show that the spinels Zn-bearing magnetite (Zn(0.5)Fe(2.5)O(4)) and minium (Pb(3)O(4)) form during low temperature alteration of Pb-bearing silica glass in surficial organic rich soils in proximity to a former Cu-smelter in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. The glass most likely formed during high-temperature processes and has been either emitted by the smelter or wind-blown from waste rock piles to near-by soils. The alteration of the glass by percolating pore solutions has resulted in the formation of large micrometer-size dendritic etch features and in nanometer-size dendritic alteration halos composed of nano-size prismatic crystals of Zn-rich magnetite and spherical nanoparticles of minium. Both spinel-type phases are embedded in an amorphous silica matrix which formed during the alteration of the glass at low temperature. A review on the occurrence of spinel-group minerals in smelter-affected soils or mine tailings indicates that the formation of these minerals under ambient Earth surface conditions is quite common and often results in the sequestration of contaminants such as Cu, Ni, Zn and Sb. The pedogenic spinels often occur as euhedral crystals in nano-size mineral assemblages within alteration features such as dendritic etch patterns, mineral surface coatings and mineralized organic matter. Their well-developed crystal forms indicate that (a) they have not formed during a rapid cooling process in a smelter or refinery which typically creates spherical particulate matter, and (b) they have not been part of particulate matter added via fluvial or Aeolian processes which most commonly yield anhedral morphologies. The formation of nano-size spinel-group minerals in low temperature environmental settings may lead to the long-term storage of metal(loid)s in mineral phases and their transport over vast distances via fluvial, alluvial and Aeolian processes. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12932-019-0061-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-67430392019-09-16 The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles Schindler, Michael Mantha, Haley Hochella, Michael F. Geochem Trans Research Article Mineralogical studies of contaminated soils affected by smelter emission and dust from mining activities indicate that minerals of the spinel group are one of the common hosts of metal-bearing contaminants. Spinel group minerals typically originate from high temperature processes, but an increasing number of studies indicate that metal-bearing spinel group minerals can also form under ambient Earth surface conditions in surficial soils. In this contribution to honor Donald Sparks, we show that the spinels Zn-bearing magnetite (Zn(0.5)Fe(2.5)O(4)) and minium (Pb(3)O(4)) form during low temperature alteration of Pb-bearing silica glass in surficial organic rich soils in proximity to a former Cu-smelter in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. The glass most likely formed during high-temperature processes and has been either emitted by the smelter or wind-blown from waste rock piles to near-by soils. The alteration of the glass by percolating pore solutions has resulted in the formation of large micrometer-size dendritic etch features and in nanometer-size dendritic alteration halos composed of nano-size prismatic crystals of Zn-rich magnetite and spherical nanoparticles of minium. Both spinel-type phases are embedded in an amorphous silica matrix which formed during the alteration of the glass at low temperature. A review on the occurrence of spinel-group minerals in smelter-affected soils or mine tailings indicates that the formation of these minerals under ambient Earth surface conditions is quite common and often results in the sequestration of contaminants such as Cu, Ni, Zn and Sb. The pedogenic spinels often occur as euhedral crystals in nano-size mineral assemblages within alteration features such as dendritic etch patterns, mineral surface coatings and mineralized organic matter. Their well-developed crystal forms indicate that (a) they have not formed during a rapid cooling process in a smelter or refinery which typically creates spherical particulate matter, and (b) they have not been part of particulate matter added via fluvial or Aeolian processes which most commonly yield anhedral morphologies. The formation of nano-size spinel-group minerals in low temperature environmental settings may lead to the long-term storage of metal(loid)s in mineral phases and their transport over vast distances via fluvial, alluvial and Aeolian processes. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12932-019-0061-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer International Publishing 2019-03-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6743039/ /pubmed/30868335 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12932-019-0061-3 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open AccessThis 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. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Schindler, Michael
Mantha, Haley
Hochella, Michael F.
The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title_full The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title_fullStr The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title_full_unstemmed The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title_short The formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
title_sort formation of spinel-group minerals in contaminated soils: the sequestration of metal(loid)s by unexpected incidental nanoparticles
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6743039/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30868335
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12932-019-0061-3
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