Trace metals in surface water and stream sediments of Healy and Lignite Creek Basins, Alaska

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5839646

Parks, B

Coal has been strip-mined in the Healy and Lignite Creek basins of the Nenana coal field. Trace metals concentrations are low in Healy Creek, but are higher in the Lignite Creek basin. Concentrations of trace metals increase as Healy Creek and Sanderson Creek (in the Lignite basin) flow past mined areas, but effects of coal mining cannot be distinguished from those due to a change in lithology or coal outcrop burning. Metals are typically concentrated on the suspended sediment. The source of the trace metals on sediment and in the water is probably the fine-grained Tertiary rock of the coal-bearing group. Local coals do not contain high levels of trace metals. Concentrations of dissolved and suspended trace metals in water and total-recoverable trace metals in the bed material do not present an environmental hazard in the Healy and Lignite Creek basins at this time. Mining does not appear to have had any appreciable effect on the quality of ground water in the basins. 14 references, 8 tables.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5839646
• Report Number(s): USGS/WRI-83-4173; ON: TI85901271
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COAL MINING
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
SEDIMENTS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ACID NEUTRALIZING CAPACITY
ALASKA
CALCIUM
CARBONATES
CHLORIDES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUORIDES
IRON
LEAD
MANGANESE
NICKEL
NITROGEN
PH VALUE
POTASSIUM
SODIUM
STREAMS
SURFACE MINING
ZINC
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
ELEMENTS
FEDERAL REGION X
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
METALS
MINING
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
USA
WATER CHEMISTRY
010800* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Waste Management
010900 - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Environmental Aspects
520200 - Environment
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