title: Status of aluminium in environmental compartments contaminated by acidic mine water.
abstract: Investigations were conducted to characterize aluminium in the affected stream and soils downstream of a mine site discharging acidic mine water. The water-borne Al exhibited a highly non-conservative behaviour at water pH below 3.8 in the 0-3.9 km reach and a much more conservative behaviour in the reaches with higher water pHs downstream of the 3.9 km station. The concentration of water-borne Al was higher at the medium flow event than at the flood event in the 0-9 km reach while the opposite was observed for the 16-56 km reach. Transport of Al associated with suspended materials was only observed during the flood event. The amount of Al carried by per unit weight of suspended particles was smaller in the 0-16 km reach than in the 25-56 km reach. The sediment-borne Al increased downstream with maximum Al accumulation occurred in the 25-29 km reach. The residual Al dominated Al fractions in the streambed sediments. The NH(4)Cl-extractable Al in the affected soils decreased with increasing distance from the acidic irrigation water source. In contrast, both the water-extractable and total Al in the soils showed no clear distribution pattern. The NH(4)Cl-extractable Al was closely correlated with soil acidity while neither total Al nor water-extractable Al was correlated with soil acidity. The vertical distribution of NH(4)Cl-extractable Al was regulated by pH with certain influence from soil clay abundance.
authors: South China Institute of Environmental Science, Guangzhou 510655, China.
authors: Wenzhou
authors: W
authors: Lu
authors: Yingqun
authors: Y
authors: Ma
authors: Chuxia
authors: C
authors: Lin
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005843:Geography; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D008906:Mining / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011786:Quality Control; D012987:Soil; D014867:Water; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D012987:Soil; D014873:Water Pollutants; D014867:Water; D000535:Aluminum