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Arsenic in contaminated soils and anthropogenic deposits at the Mokrsko, Roudný, and Kašperské Hory gold deposits, Bohemian Massif (CZ)

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Environmental Geology

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Abstract

Soil, mine tailing, and waste dump profiles above three mesothermal gold deposits in the Bohemian Massif with different anthropogenic histories have been studied. Their mineralogical, major element, and arsenic (As) contents and the contents of secondary arsenic minerals were analyzed. The As-bearing minerals were concentrated and determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the Debye-Scherrer powder method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive microanalysis (EDAX). The amorphous hydrous ferric oxides (HFO), As-bearing goethite, K-Ba- or Ca-Fe- and Fe- arsenates pharmacosiderite, arseniosiderite, and scorodite, and sulfate-arsenate pitticite were determined as products of arsenopyrite or arsenian pyrite oxidation. The As behaviour in the profiles studied differs in dependence on the surface morphology, chemical and mineralogical composition of the soil, mine wastes or tailings, oxidation conditions, pH, presence of (or distance from) primary As mineralization in the bedrock, and duration of the weathering effect. Although the primary As mineralization and the bedrock chemical composition are roughly similar, there are distinct differences in the As behaviour amongst the Mokrsko, Roudný and Kašperské Hory deposits.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by project no. 205/97/0829 of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, by project no. 79–502 881 (EMOZMID), financed by Rio Tinto Technology Development, and by project no. CEZ: Z3–013–912. The authors would like to express their thanks to A. Langrová (Institute of Geology, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Prague) and J. Hovorka for assistance with the SEM and microprobe, and to O. Šebek for help with FAAS analyses (both of the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojová 135, 16502, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Michal Filippi

  2. Institute of Geochemistry Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University , Albertov 6 , 12843, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Viktor Goliáš & Zdeněk Pertold

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  1. Michal Filippi
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  2. Viktor Goliáš
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  3. Zdeněk Pertold
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Correspondence to Michal Filippi.

Appendix

Appendix

The table below shows a description of the samples, their As contents and the pH values of the leachates in distilled water and KCl for selected representative samples.

Table 5 Description of the samples, their As contents and the pH values of the leachates in distilled water and KCl for selected representative samples
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Filippi, M., Goliáš, V. & Pertold, Z. Arsenic in contaminated soils and anthropogenic deposits at the Mokrsko, Roudný, and Kašperské Hory gold deposits, Bohemian Massif (CZ). Env Geol 45, 716–730 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-003-0929-4

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