Coal-generated acid mine drainage (AMD) is characterized by low-pH waters with excessive loads of dissolved species such as SO4, Fe, Al and Mn along with other elements of environmental concern (i.e. Cd, As, Cr, Ni, Pb, Se and Cu). To mitigate this problem, anaerobic sulfate reducing bioreactors (ASRB) have been implemented as a technology for passive treatment systems that utilize low-cost organic substrates to stimulate biologically enhanced contaminant sequestration. Previous work has identified the establishment of diverse microbial communities in which a hierarchal chain of substrate degradation processes is essential in developing sustainable environments to produce long-lived sulfate-reducing microbial (SRM) populations. In this study, to determine the optimal mixture of substrate types, alternating ratios of herbaceous (ie. leaves, grass, spent brewing grains) and ligneous (i.e. maple wood chips and saw dust) reactor matrices were tested. Five bioreactors along with one control reactor containing only limestone were constructed at the Tab-Simco abandoned mine land (AML) site in southern Illinois, USA. The field experiments were monitored over ~ one year (377 days) to evaluate the physical, geochemical and microbiological parameters which dictate ASRB efficiency in remediation of AMD contaminants. Results from this experiment documented contaminant removal in all reactors. However, the bioreactors established SRM populations that contributed to enhanced removal of SO4, Fe, and trace metals (i.e. Cu, Cd, Zn, Ni). Geochemical assessment of the aqueous environments established within the bioreactors suggested multiple pathways of contaminant sequestration. This included the formation of Fe-oxyhydroxide precipitates, adsorption, co-precipitation (e.g. Zn/Ni-Ferrites) and bio-induced sulfide mineralization. Activity of the SRMs was dependent on temperature, with bioreactors exhibiting decreases in both effluent sulfide concentrations and 34S-depletion of sulfate during low-T months (i.e. T < 10°C). Overall, maximum remediation of dissolved constituents SO4, Fe, Al and Mn was obtained in the predominantly herbaceous bioreactors. Extrapolation of our results to the full-scale Tab-Simco bioreactor indicated that, over the course of one year, the herbaceous bioreactors would remove ~75,600 kg SO4, 21,800 kg Fe, 8000 kg Al, and 77 kg Mn. This represents a 21.7 wt%, 41.5 wt%, 9.4 wt% and 81.8 wt% increase in SO4, Fe, Al and Mn removal over dominantly ligneous bioreactors, respectively. Although the overall Fe removal within the limestone control reactor reached 44.5 mol%; removal of 19.5 mol% SO4 and 36.9 mol% Al from influent AMD were significantly less when compared to the bioreactors. These results imply that ASRB technologies are promising in remediation of coal-generated AMD and increasing herbaceous content of bioreactors can significantly enhance contaminant sequestration. However, geochemical results also displayed seasonal variation in redox gradients within our field ASRB's which may induce dissolution of the redox sensitive phases produced within bioreactors. Furthermore, optimal microbial-mediated sulfate reduction may be inhibited by the high surface areas of the abundant Fe/Al-oxyhydroxides which dominate the system. Therefore, to enhance ASRB remediation capacity, future designs must optimize not only the organic carbon substrate but also include a pretreatment phase in which the bulk of dissolved Fe/Al-species are removed from the influent AMD prior to entering the bioreactor.

The aqueous geochemistry and hydrology of the North Fork of the American Fork River, its tributaries, and the ground water in the vicinity of the Pacific Mine site were investigated in order to determine what impact ground water entering the North Fork has on toxic metal loads in the river. Toxic metal contamination in the North Fork is great enough that brown and cutthroat trout have absorbed lead, cadmium, and arsenic in their tissues at concentrations that are hazardous to human health if consumed. Ground water that flows through the mine site flows directly through the mine tailings before entering the North Fork, which produces an acidic ground water plume that has high concentrations of toxic metals. Together, the surface water discharge results and toxic metals concentrations from the surface and ground waters were used to determine toxic metals loading rates in the North Fork and its tributaries. The results suggest that the dissolved toxic metals (As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn) enter the North Fork when the river is gaining water from the ground water. However, the total toxic metal load generally decreases through the reach of river adjacent to the mine site and is significantly greater than the dissolved load. Cadmium and Mn travel as dissolved species while Cu, Fe, Pb, and Zn travel as suspended solids in the North Fork and its tributaries. Arsenic seems to be associated with both the suspended solids and travel in the dissolved state. The geochemical modeling program PHREEQC and the diffuse double layer surface complexation model were used to investigate the chemistry that controls toxic metal mobility and attenuation in the surface and ground waters at the mine site. Based on PHREEQC results, the most important reaction in these waters is the precipitation of hydrous fe1Tic oxide. The toxic metals that sorb to the hydrous ferric oxide are Cu, Pb, most importantly Zn, and to a lesser degree As.

No description available.

MENVSC (Geography) / Department of Geography and Geo-Information Sciences / Environmental degradation is a quite familiar factor of the mining industry that has been associated with South African mining industry from the beginning. The decommissioning of abandoned mines before the environment legislation, The National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 and the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act 23 of 2002, was introduced is of great concern as the abandonment of mines without appropriate remediation and pollution monitoring was the result. Soil erosion has been recognised as an environmental hazard that emanates from abandoned mines. This study seeks to assess the soil erosion hazard around Nyala abandoned mine. The modified method of Soil Loss Estimation Model for Southern Africa (SLEMSA), for assessing soil erosion hazard, was used to estimate the spatial variation of erosion to achieve the goal of the study. Parameters that were considered for the model include relief (Slope steepness, S & slope length, L), soil erodibility (Fb), vegetation cover (C) and rainfall erosivity (E). Soil samples were collected from the field and; sieve and hydrometer analysis was conducted to determine the erodibility factor value of the study area. The model was run in a GIS environment (ArcGIS) and the parameters were multiplied to generate a soil erosion hazard map for the abandoned Nyala mine area. Results from the study indicated that 74.3 % of the watershed experiences low to moderate erosion hazard, with an estimated annual soil loss of 2.76 tons/ha/yr. The low rates of soil erosion in most parts of the watershed are associated with the low topographic ratio and low rainfall erosivity. The research demonstrated that the modified SLEMSA model used within GIS is a very useful tool as it enhances the capacity to assess and model the spatial variation of soil erosion hazard in a timeously and affordable manner. / NRF

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Apr. 12, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-98).

No description available.

Department of Mining and Environmental Geology / MESC

No description available.

To better understand the issues about the surface movements in the coal mining region Lugau-Oelsnitz, Germany, small-scale numerical models are firstly utilized for verifications via analytical solutions, to explore the simulation schemes, and for parameter sensitivity analysis. 1D rock column numerical models shows that simulated surface movements are consistent with analytical solutions. The investigations via 2.5D profile numerical models also show that uplift is linear related to water level rise under confined mine water conditions, while a quadratic function is valid for unconfined mine water. Geodetic survey in the Lugau-Oelsnitz district shows that at the end of the active mining period (1844 to 1971), general subsidence is about 5 - 10 m, with a maximum of 17 m in the southern mining area. General uplift velocity after abandoned mine flooding between 1972 and 2014 is about 0.5 - 2.0 mm/year. Based on numerical simulation results, predicted general uplift velocity vary between 0.5 - 3.0 mm/year, while maximum uplift position is moving toward south.:1 Introduction 2 State of the art 2.1 Overview 2.1.1 Coal mining induced settlements 2.1.2 Flooding induced uplift 2.2 Approaches to predict subsidence 2.2.1 Empirical approaches 2.2.2 Influence function methods 2.2.3 Physical models 2.2.4 Numerical simulation methods 2.3 Approaches to predict uplift 2.3.1 Empirical approaches 2.3.2 Numerical simulation methods 2.4 Comparison and conclusions 2.4.1 Comparison of research methods 2.4.2 Conclusions 3 Numerical simulation approaches 3.1 Continuum mechanical simulations with FLAC3D 3.1.1 Mining induced subsidence 3.1.2 Flooding induced uplift 3.2 Discontinuum mechanical simulations with 3DEC 3.2.1 Self-weight induced settlement in jointed rock column model 3.2.2 Uplift for jointed and fully saturated rock column 3.3 Parameter sensitivity study 3.3.1 Parameter effect on subsidence 3.3.2 Parameter effect on uplift 3.4 Interface and volume element representation of faults 3.4.1 Simulation schemes 3.4.2 Parameter sensitivity analysis of fault 3.4.3 Discussion 3.5 Conclusions 4 Case study: Coal mining region Lugau-Oelsnitz 4.1 Background information 4.1.1 Mining background 4.1.2 Geological and hydrogeological situation 4.2 In-situ monitoring data 4.2.1 Groundwater level data 4.2.2 Surface movement data 4.2.3 Discussion of data analysis 4.3 Continuum based numerical modelling 4.3.1 Introduction 4.3.2 Model set-up 4.3.3 Calculation results 4.3.4 Surface movement predictions 4.4 Discontinuum based numerical modelling 4.4.1 Model set-up 4.4.2 Calibration results 4.4.3 Surface movement prediction 4.5 Conclusions 5 Conclusions and prospects 5.1 Conclusions 5.2 Main contributions of thesis 5.3 Inadequacies and prospects