Trace element partitioning in coal mine drainage and impacted waters, Harrison County, West Virginia

Conference · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:912701

Smilley, M J ^[1]; Vesper, D J ^[1]; Edenborn, H M

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1. West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Lamberts Run is a tributary of the West Fork River and is impacted by drainage from abandoned coal mines within its watershed. In this study, we examined the distribution of iron, manganese and trace elements in discharge downstream of one abandoned mine portal and after its entry into Lamberts Run. Construction of a wetland and passive treatment system is slated to begin along this discharge in summer 2006. Dissolved iron and manganese, which were present in the mine discharge at concentrations of 7 and 6 mg/L, respectively, demonstrated sequential precipitation over the approximately 200-m distance between the mine portal and creek. Significant loss of manganese from the water and net accumulation in the sediments was not observed until 100 m downstream of the portal. Trace elements Ba, Co, Cr, Ni and Zn were detected in water, sediment and black coatings on stream cobbles in Lamberts Run. The trace elements are progressively enriched, relative to iron and manganese, respectively through those media. The coatings contained over 55,000 mg/kg manganese and high concentrations of the trace elements. Selenium was at or below the detection limit in water and sediments but substantially enriched in the black coatings (72 mg/kg). Diffusive equilibration in thin film (DET) and redox gel probes were used to measure sediment porewater concentrations at high resolution in the near-surface sediments.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• OSTI ID: 912701
• Report Number(s): DOE/NETL-IR-2007-027
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
BLACK COATINGS
COAL MINES
COATINGS
CONSTRUCTION
DRAINAGE
ELEMENTS
IRON
MANGANESE
PRECIPITATION
PROBES
RESOLUTION
SEDIMENTS
SELENIUM
SENSITIVITY
THIN FILMS
TRACE AMOUNTS
WATER
WETLANDS
abandoned coal mines
diffusive equilibration
gel probes
iron
manganese
trace elements
wetlands