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Post-catastrophe Analysis of the Fundão Tailings Dam Failure in the Doce River System, Southeast Brazil: Potentially Toxic Elements in Affected Soils

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Abstract

On November 5, 2015, after the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam, a massive amount of iron mine waste was released into the Doce River system in southeast Brazil. The aim of our study was to determine the mass fractions of potentially toxic elements in soil affected by the deposition of material by the waste wave. A preliminary screening was performed with portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF) and principal component analysis (PCA). The EPA 3050B method was further applied to digest the samples for quantitative determination of As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. PCA was useful to classify the mine waste samples based on the Fe signal from the PXRF spectra, in spite of the heterogeneous nature of the material discharged into the Doce River system. The anomalous levels of As (up to 164 mg kg−1) and Mn (as high as 2410 mg kg−1) found in some mine waste and affected soil samples are within the background ranges typically observed in the soils of the Iron Quadrangle region. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure shows no evidence of hazards regarding As, but a high natural background level of Mn was found in the mobile fraction. This preliminary environmental assessment highlights the importance of evaluation of long-term effects on soil directly impacted, as well as on the aquatic biota of the Doce River system and adjacent coastal environment given the large affected area, which includes regions with varying background levels of toxic elements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their deepest gratitude to the faculty and students from the Federal University of Viçosa who collected all soil and mine waste samples for this study. Special thanks to Dr. Débora Corrêa for her careful review. The National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant (MRI-1429544) supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences, Black Hills State University, 1200 University St., Spearfish, SD, 57799, USA

    Marcelo Braga Bueno Guerra, Brian T. Teaney, Brianna J. Mount, Daniel J. Asunskis & Ryan J. Barker

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD, 57069, USA

    Brennan T. Jordan

  3. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Viçosa, P.H. Rolfs Av., Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil

    Eliana E. Santos & Carlos Ernesto G. R. Schaefer

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  1. Marcelo Braga Bueno Guerra
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  2. Brian T. Teaney
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  8. Carlos Ernesto G. R. Schaefer
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Correspondence to Marcelo Braga Bueno Guerra.

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Guerra, M.B.B., Teaney, B.T., Mount, B.J. et al. Post-catastrophe Analysis of the Fundão Tailings Dam Failure in the Doce River System, Southeast Brazil: Potentially Toxic Elements in Affected Soils. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 252 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3430-5

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