Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: St. Kevin Gulch, a sub-alpine Colorado stream heavily contaminated with acid mine drainage is the site of this investigation attempting to determine the factors that control the transport of copper, cadmium and zinc contaminants.Monthly samples of stream water and streambed sediments for the period May-October, 1988 provide an extensive chemical and physical characterization of the system.Preliminary sorption studies and dialysis bag experiments in 1988 indicate that iron oxyhydroxides are precipitated with chemical, not biological control, and that such precipitates may be controlling the uptake of trace metals by the sediments.Careful laboratory studies for samples collected in 1989, along with equilibrium computer modeling confirms that iron oxyhydroxides alone can account for the sorption behavior of copper and zinc.Other factors apparently control the sorption of cadmium.These results imply that pH perturbations may be effective in remediation attempts for acid-minedrainage contaminated streams.u.s.
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Chemistry
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2896533938