title: Geochemical control processes and potential sediment toxicity in a mine-impacted lake.
abstract: Geochemical parameters and major ion concentrations from sediments of a freshwater lake in the town of Åtvidaberg, southeastern, Sweden, were used to identify the geochemical processes that control the water chemistry. The lake sediments are anoxic, characterized by reduced sulfur and sulfidic minerals. The hypothesis tested is that in sulfidic-anaerobic contaminated sediments, the presence of redox potential changes creates a favorable condition for sulfide oxidation, resulting in the release of potentially toxic metals. The acid volatile sulfide (AVS) contents ranged from 5.5 μmol/g to 16 μmol/g of dry sediment. Comparison of total mine tailing metals (∑mine tailing metals) with simultaneously extracted metals (SEM) in sediments indicates that up to 20% of the ∑mine tailing metals are bound to the solid phase as AVS. Consequently, the AVS and SEM analysis classified all sediment samples as potentially toxic in terms of heavy metal concentrations (i.e., SEM to AVS ratio distribution > 1). Evaluation of hydrogeochemical data suggests that calcite dissolution, iron (III) oxyhydroxysulfate mineral jarosite (H-jarosite) precipitation, hematite precipitation, and siderite precipitation are the most prevailing geochemical processes that control the geochemical interactions between the water column and sediment in a mine-impacted lake. The geochemical processes were verified and quantified using a chemical equilibrium modeling program, Visual MINTEQ, Ver 3.1, beta. The identified geochemical processes create an environment in which the characteristics of sulfate-rich waters and acidic-iron produce the geochemical conditions for acid mine drainage and mobilization of toxic metals.
authors: Department of Thematic Studies - Environmental Change, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Solomon Babatunde
authors: SB
authors: Adeleke
authors: Department of Thematic Studies - Environmental Change, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Bo H
authors: BH
authors: Svensson
authors: Department of Thematic Studies - Environmental Change, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors: Sepehr Shakeri
authors: SS
authors: Yekta
authors: Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors: Michael Mayowa
authors: MM
authors: Adeleye
mesh_terms: D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D008906:Mining; D013440:Sulfides / Q000032:analysis; D013548:Sweden; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D013440:Sulfides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Acid mine drainage; Geochemical processes; Heavy metals; Sediment toxicity; Sulfide