Riverine Flux of Metals from Historically Mined Orefields in England and Wales
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Riverine Flux of Metals from Historically Mined Orefields in England and Wales W. M. Mayes & H. A. B. Potter & A. P. Jarvis
Received: 14 September 2012 / Accepted: 18 December 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The flux of metals at the tidal limits of major rivers are an important metric of freshwater contaminant transfer to marine habitats, reported in Northeast Atlantic bordering countries under the 1992 Oslo-Paris (OSPAR) Convention. This paper presents an assessment of long-term OSPAR data for four trace metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) using a range of spatial datasets to assess the broad distribution of metal flux and yield across England and Wales. Mine site records and geological and land use data are used to classify river basins into six classes. The bulk of metal flux to seas around England and Wales occurs from catchments containing extensive mineralization and a legacy of metal mining (52 % of the total Zn flux, 47 % of Pb, 39 % of Cu, and 48 % of Cd were associated with mined catchments). Catchment area,
W. M. Mayes : A. P. Jarvis Hydrogeochemical Engineering Research & Outreach Group, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK W. M. Mayes (*) Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences, University of Hull, Scarborough YO11 3AZ, UK e-mail: [email protected] H. A. B. Potter Environment Agency, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
metal flux from point mine discharges at source, and extent of mineralization typically accounted most for variation in catchment outlet metal flux in stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR). There are a number of small mining-impacted rural catchments contributing significant fluxes of metals to coastal waters. Of particular prominence are Restronguet Creek (drainage area 87 km2) in southwest England that discharges 176 t Zn/year and 18 t Cu/year and the Afon Goch Dulas (27 km2) in north Wales, which releases 20 t Zn/year and 9 t Cu/year. Although such exercises cannot directly determine the provenance of metals, comparison with metal release data and a review of catchment-scale studies suggest a critical role of mining-related contaminants in contributing to catchment metal export. Keywords Metal mine . Pollution . Mine water . Contaminant transport . Flux . Zinc . Cadmium . Lead . Copper
1 Introduction The global flux of trace metals in river systems and associated human influence has received much attention since the pioneering study of Martin and Meybeck (1979), which provided the first comprehensive overview of river particulate composition and resultant global river fluxes. Over the past 30 years, the mean particulate and dissolved elemental compositions of
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many important global rivers have become wellcharacterized and yielded detailed global databases of the flux of trace elements into the oceans (e.g., Martin and Whitfield 1983; Poulton and Raiswell 2000; Carey et al. 2002; Gaillardet et al. 2003; Viers et al. 2009). Although many of these d
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