Evaluation of surface water quality after mine closure in the coal-mining region of Guizhou, China
- PDF / 1,121,415 Bytes
- 15 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 79 Downloads / 208 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Evaluation of surface water quality after mine closure in the coal‑mining region of Guizhou, China Wei Liu1 · Shenghua Liu2 · Changgen Tang2 · Wen Qin2 · Hongzhong Pan1,3 · Jianmei Zhang1 Received: 19 March 2020 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this study, we used pollution evaluation indices, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to assess the pollution status of surface water systems after mine closure in an intensive coal-mining area of Guizhou. The concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn, Hg, total nitrogen, volatile phenols, sulfide, and petroleum in most of the water samples exceeded the limits set by China and the World Health Organization. The surface water in this region was characterised as near-neutral-high metals and near-neutral-low metals. The metal elements showed high spatial variability as inferred from their high variation coefficients. In contrast, most non-metallic pollution elements were not considered dominant polluters and generally showed low spatial variability. Modifications to the existing heavy metal pollution index and degree of contamination scheme showed comparable results to that of the heavy metal evaluation index, where 76.92%, 7.69%, and 15.38% of the water samples showed low, medium, and high pollution, respectively. Combined, the results of the HCA, PCA, and pollution indices inferred highest surface water contamination at sites closest to the coal mines (G1, G4, G9), while distal sites were less contaminated. Our results highlight the need to assess the pollution status of surface water systems after mine closure in intensive coal-mining areas in order to prevent severe ecological and environmental degradation. Keywords Mine closure · Water quality assessment · Principal component analysis · Hierarchical cluster analysis · Heavy metal pollution evaluation indices
Introduction Coal is the second most important global energy source, contributing 29.20% to the total global primary energy consumption (> 7700 million ton) (Singh et al. 2017). However, coal mining in many developing countries has underdeveloped mining technology, poor management mechanisms, and limited measures for environmental protection. The widespread and large-scale nature of coal mining has caused a number of environmental problems globally—spontaneous * Jianmei Zhang wf‑[email protected] 1
College of Resources and Environment, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China
2
Coal Mine Geological Engineering Consulting and Geological Environment Testing Center, Guiyang 550081, China
3
Engineering Research Center of Ecology and Agricultural Use of Wetland, Ministry of Education, Jingzhou 434000, China
combustion and acid mine drainage (AMD)—which persist even after mine closure (Fan and Zhang 2015; Howladar and Farhad 2013; Phenrat 2020; Onifade and Genc 2019). The improper management of waste disposal and spoil heaps generates water and air pollution due to the presence of metal‐rich combustion
Data Loading...
