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Characteristics and Environmental Response of White Secondary Mineral Precipitate in the Acid Mine Drainage From Jinduicheng Mine, Shaanxi, China

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Abstract

The study focuses on the white secondary mineral precipitate and its environmental response formed in acid mine drainage (AMD) at Jinduicheng Mine (Shaanxi, China). The mineral composition of white precipitate was characterized by Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM–EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP–AES), chemical quantitative calculation and PHREEQC software. The white precipitate was a kind of amorphous crystal with the characteristics of a fine powder, and its main elements were O, Al, S, F, OH− and SO42− groups. Moreover, by comparing the mole number of chemical elements, the main mineral composition of the white precipitate was closest to basaluminite. The geochemical simulation result of the PHREEQC software verified that the white precipitate was basaluminite. According to the analysis of water quality characteristics of water samples, basaluminite can reduce the ions content in the AMD and enrich Cu, Ni, Mo, Cr and F ions, showing an excellent self-purification capacity of the water body. These results are helpful to improve the understanding of secondary mineral and its environmental response, and are of great significance for the environmental protection and sustainable development of mining area.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Scientific Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (Program No. 18JS087).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710072, P. R. China

    Cong Lu, Bo Yang & Xing Cui

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710072, P. R. China

    Cong Lu, Sichang Wang & Bo Zhou

  3. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Technology and Reservoir Protection of Oilfield, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an, 710065, P. R. China

    Cong Lu, Bo Yang & Chengtun Qu

  4. School of Geography Science and Geomatics Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, P. R. China

    Weiwei Zhang

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  1. Cong Lu
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Correspondence to Bo Zhou.

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Lu, C., Yang, B., Cui, X. et al. Characteristics and Environmental Response of White Secondary Mineral Precipitate in the Acid Mine Drainage From Jinduicheng Mine, Shaanxi, China. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 107, 1012–1021 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03355-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03355-9

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