Ground-water seepage and sulfur diagenesis in acidified lake sediments

Miscellaneous · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:7244955

McIntire, P E

Most sulfur diagenesis models predict that porewater SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} concentrations will decrease exponentially with increasing sediment depth and will be lower than that of the overlying water throughout the sediments. Sulfate concentrations below 0.2 mM are common in Lake Anna sediments which receive acid mine drainage; however, sediment porewater containing up to 29 mM SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} is also seen at about 20 cm below the sediment surface in this section of the lake. A decision tree was used to investigate the cause of the high SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} concentrations at depth (HSD) in the sediment. The first hypothesis was that increased ground-water flow through Lake Anna HSD sediments, relative to the non-HSD sediments, increases groundwater advection of SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} or of oxygen which would induce sulfide oxidation. Stations having HSD profiles did not have higher groundwater flow than other sites samples. Alternative explanations for the HSD profiles were that the region in which they occurred had (1) unusual sediment chemical compositions; (2) groundwater seepage containing unusually high sulfate concentrations; or (3) a lateral intrusion of high SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} water from the sulfide mines which supplied SO{sub 4}{sup 2{minus}} to the HSD region before the lake was impounded.

• Research Organization: Virginia Univ., Charlottesville, VA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7244955
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
GROUND WATER
CONTAMINATION
SEDIMENTS
ACIDIFICATION
SULFATES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
DIAGENESIS
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
LAKES
WATER POLLUTION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SURFACE WATERS
WATER
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)