title: Polonium behaviour in reservoirs potentially affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (SW of Spain).
abstract: The province of Huelva is one of the areas most affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) in the world, which can produce big enhancements and fractionations in the waters affected by AMD. There are very few studies on this issue, and none on polonium-210. Twenty-two water reservoirs were sampled, and the (210)Po was measured in both dissolution and particulate phases. The (210)Po concentrations in the waters were in the same order of magnitude to those ones for unperturbed systems, although the data published to particulate matter are very scarce. A mean value and standard uncertainty for (210)Po of 0.25 ± 0.03 mBq L(-1) in the dissolved matter, and 62 ± 9 mBq g(-1) in the particulate matter can be established as base line for the reservoirs of the Huelva area. The distribution coefficients (kd) range from 10(4) to 10(6) L kg(-1), in agreement to the found ones by other authors for the case of neutral waters, but being the lowest values for the more acidic reservoirs. It has been also found that (210)Po has a high tendency to be associated to the particulate matter for neutral-alkaline waters, however, under extreme acid conditions (pH < 3), increases the Po tendency to be associated to the dissolved phase. Therefore, the main conclusion obtained in this work is that AMD has no a significant influence on the total activity concentration of (210)Po in the waters of reservoirs, but the acidity has a clear influence on its distribution between both dissolved and the particulate phases.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blasco
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gázquez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pérez-Moreno
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación para la Ingeniería en Minería Sostenible, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, Palos de la Frontera, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Grande
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain; Instituto de Ciências da Terra - Polo de Braga, Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), Universidad de Huelva, 21071 Huelva, Spain; Centro de Investigación para la Ingeniería en Minería Sostenible, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, Palos de la Frontera, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santisteban
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación para la Ingeniería en Minería Sostenible, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, Palos de la Frontera, 21071 Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: de la Torre
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación para la Ingeniería en Minería Sostenible, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Huelva, Palos de la Frontera, 21071 Huelva, Spain. Electronic address: bolivar@uhu.es.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bolívar
mesh_terms: D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008906:Mining; D011059:Polonium / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D013030:Spain; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D011059:Polonium
keywords: Acid mine drainage; Distribution coefficient; Fresh-water; Polonium; Reservoir; Suspended particulate matter