Cargando…
Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures
The W-Sn Regoufe mine, closed since the 1970s, was once intensively exploited for tungsten concentrates. Throughout its activity, considerable amounts of arsenopyrite-rich mine wastes were produced and, to this day, are still exposed to weathering conditions. Thus, this work aims at assessing soil c...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908638/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33525752 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031180 |
_version_ | 1783655761639899136 |
---|---|
author | Durães, Nuno Portela, Luís Sousa, Sara Patinha, Carla da Silva, Eduardo Ferreira |
author_facet | Durães, Nuno Portela, Luís Sousa, Sara Patinha, Carla da Silva, Eduardo Ferreira |
author_sort | Durães, Nuno |
collection | PubMed |
description | The W-Sn Regoufe mine, closed since the 1970s, was once intensively exploited for tungsten concentrates. Throughout its activity, considerable amounts of arsenopyrite-rich mine wastes were produced and, to this day, are still exposed to weathering conditions. Thus, this work aims at assessing soil contamination, using a combination of chemical, physicochemical and mineralogical analyses and sequential selective chemical extraction of the main potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in topsoils. Results show that Regoufe soils are enriched in most of the PTEs associated with the ore assemblage, but As and Cd contents far outstrip both international and national guidelines. The estimated contamination factor reveals that 67% of soil samples are classified as highly to ultra-highly contaminated. Similar distribution patterns, with the main focus around the unsealed mine adits, are observed when spatially projecting the modified degree of contamination (mC(d)) and arsenic contents. Fe-oxyhydroxides and organic matter demonstrate to have a preponderant role in the retention of Cd and As. In fact, despite the high PTE contents in soils, local surface waters are characterised by low metal(loid) contents and nearly neutral pH, with PTE concentrations below national thresholds for irrigation waters. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7908638 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79086382021-02-27 Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures Durães, Nuno Portela, Luís Sousa, Sara Patinha, Carla da Silva, Eduardo Ferreira Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The W-Sn Regoufe mine, closed since the 1970s, was once intensively exploited for tungsten concentrates. Throughout its activity, considerable amounts of arsenopyrite-rich mine wastes were produced and, to this day, are still exposed to weathering conditions. Thus, this work aims at assessing soil contamination, using a combination of chemical, physicochemical and mineralogical analyses and sequential selective chemical extraction of the main potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in topsoils. Results show that Regoufe soils are enriched in most of the PTEs associated with the ore assemblage, but As and Cd contents far outstrip both international and national guidelines. The estimated contamination factor reveals that 67% of soil samples are classified as highly to ultra-highly contaminated. Similar distribution patterns, with the main focus around the unsealed mine adits, are observed when spatially projecting the modified degree of contamination (mC(d)) and arsenic contents. Fe-oxyhydroxides and organic matter demonstrate to have a preponderant role in the retention of Cd and As. In fact, despite the high PTE contents in soils, local surface waters are characterised by low metal(loid) contents and nearly neutral pH, with PTE concentrations below national thresholds for irrigation waters. MDPI 2021-01-28 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7908638/ /pubmed/33525752 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031180 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Durães, Nuno Portela, Luís Sousa, Sara Patinha, Carla da Silva, Eduardo Ferreira Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title | Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title_full | Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title_fullStr | Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title_full_unstemmed | Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title_short | Environmental Impact Assessment in the Former Mining Area of Regoufe (Arouca, Portugal): Contributions to Future Remediation Measures |
title_sort | environmental impact assessment in the former mining area of regoufe (arouca, portugal): contributions to future remediation measures |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908638/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33525752 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031180 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT duraesnuno environmentalimpactassessmentintheformerminingareaofregoufearoucaportugalcontributionstofutureremediationmeasures AT portelaluis environmentalimpactassessmentintheformerminingareaofregoufearoucaportugalcontributionstofutureremediationmeasures AT sousasara environmentalimpactassessmentintheformerminingareaofregoufearoucaportugalcontributionstofutureremediationmeasures AT patinhacarla environmentalimpactassessmentintheformerminingareaofregoufearoucaportugalcontributionstofutureremediationmeasures AT dasilvaeduardoferreira environmentalimpactassessmentintheformerminingareaofregoufearoucaportugalcontributionstofutureremediationmeasures |