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Geochemical response of acid groundwater to neutralization by alkaline recharge

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Abstract

Solute transport and chemical neutralization (pH 3 to 7) within a shallow heterogeneous aquifer producing acid mine drainage (AMD) are examined at an abandoned surface coal mine in West Virginia. The aquifer is undergoing partial neutralization by mixing with alkalinity from a leaking sludge disposal pond, extending in preferential zones controlled by aquifer heterogeneity. Hydraulic heads interpolated from wells indicate leakage from a central alkaline (pH 7.1, 0.72 meq/L alkalinity) sludge pond is a principal source of recharge. Chemically-conservative sodium, added to AMD during treatment and leaked into the aquifer with the sludge, develops a dispersion plume over a restricted portion of the aquifer that correlates with pH, hydraulic head, and dissolved metals distributions. Concentrations of aluminum, iron, sulfate and acidity display higher concentrations downgradient from the pond as sludge alkalinity is consumed along flow paths. Before reaching springs, most dissolved iron is oxidized and hydrolyzed, likely precipitating in the aquifer as a ferric hydroxide or hydroxysulfate phase. The spatial pattern of iron and aluminum concentrations suggests accelerated oxidation caused by gas transport along the outer slopes of the spoil. Dissolved aluminum concentrations increase with total acidity, suggesting that dissolution of silicate minerals results from acidity released by iron hydrolysis. Neutralization reactions and higher pH are favored in more highly permeable portions of the spoil, where ferrihydrite and aluminum hydroxysulfate minerals (such as basaluminite) are supersaturated. In acid-producing zones at pH < 4.5, jurbanite is near equilibrium and an aluminum-sulfate phase with similar properties may limit aluminum concentrations, but become undersaturated in zones of advancing neutralization. At this particular site, ferrous iron produced by pyrite oxidation is almost completely oxidized over short transport distances, allowing hydrolysis of iron and aluminum should sufficient alkalinity be added to these acid waters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, 26506-6300, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Joseph J. Donovan, Kevin W. Frysinger & Thomas P. Maher Jr.

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  1. Joseph J. Donovan
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  2. Kevin W. Frysinger
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  3. Thomas P. Maher Jr.
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Donovan, J.J., Frysinger, K.W. & Maher, T.P. Geochemical response of acid groundwater to neutralization by alkaline recharge. Aquat Geochem 2, 227–253 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01160044

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