Iron and manganese diagenesis in constructed wetlands receiving mine drainage

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:5214273

Tarutis, Jr, W J

The chemical diagenesis of iron and manganese was studied in two constructed wetlands receiving coal mine drainage and in laboratory wetland mesocosms exposed to synthetic acidic mine waters, and the release of soluble metals from natural and synthetic metal oxides of differing crystallinity was studied in laboratory incubations in the presence and absence of bacterial sulfate reduction. Soil chemical characterization indicated that the formation of potentially reducible, oxide-bound precipitates accounted for the majority of iron and manganese removed in the two wetlands studied. Depth profiles revealed diagenetic remobilization of iron and manganese to the soil interstitial water due to the reductive dissolution of oxidized metals initially deposited on the wetland surface. Sulfate reduction and pyrite formation contributed little to metal removal due to organic carbon limitation in the subsurface soils. Iron and manganese in synthetic acidic mine water added to anoxic wetland mesocosms acted synergistically with respect to metal removal. The inclusion of sulfate in synthetic mine water caused a slightly greater, but statistically significant, iron removal in mesocosms relative to mesocosms not receiving sulfate. Sulfate addition had no effect on manganese removal. Iron was much more reactive than manganese towards sulfide in laboratory incubations in which sulfate reduction was allowed to occur. Liberation of iron and manganese in the absence of sulfate reduction decreased with increasing crystallinity of each metal oxide tested and was attributed to higher activation energies characteristic of a surface-reaction-controlled dissolution mechanisms.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5214273
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
COAL MINES
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON OXIDES
MANGANESE COMPOUNDS
MANGANESE OXIDES
MINES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SOIL CHEMISTRY
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WETLANDS