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Threats to the Quality of Groundwater Resources pp 239–256Cite as

The Combination of Geoelectrical Measurements and Hydro-Geochemical Studies for the Evaluation of Groundwater Pollution in Mining Tailings Areas

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 40))

Abstract

Sulfide-bearing mill wastes of the Salair Ore Processing Plant situated in the Kemerovo region (Russia) were investigated in the time period 1999–2011. Multipurpose studies of the Talmovskie mining tailings allowed the determination of the composition of the wastes, the acid mine drainages, and the affected groundwater. Geophysical sounding techniques (frequency sounding and electrical tomography) were used to trace the geoelectric zoning of the wastes, expressed as a consistent change of the electrical resistivity specific electrical resistance (SER) from zone to zone. Layers with low resistivity indicate areas with pore spaces filled by highly mineralized solutions. These layers extend to depths of 4–5 m, indicating the penetration of toxicants into the groundwater horizon. The pollution of groundwater was confirmed by chemical analysis, according to which the concentrations of Zn, Pb, and Cd in water samples from the wells are two to three orders of magnitude higher than the maximum permissible concentration (MPC). The authors provide an attempt to identify the correlation and quantitative relationships between SER and the total amount of various metal species present in the wastes and water extracts. The proposed approach permitted to estimate the amount of accumulated tailings, in order to predict changes in the total concentrations of Mn, Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in waste and water extracts to a depth of 30 m.

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Abbreviations

EFS:

Electromagnetic frequency sounding

ET:

Electrical tomography

ICP-MS:

Mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma

MPC:

Maximum permissible concentration

SB RAS:

Siberian branch of Russian academy of sciences

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

SER:

Specific electrical resistance

SERfs :

Specific electric resistivity of the wastes according to frequency sounding

SERp :

Specific electrical resistance measured by direct conductometry in the pastes

SOPP:

Salair ore processing plant

XRD:

X-ray diffraction analysis

XRF SR:

X-ray fluorescence with synchrotron radiation

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our honored editor Dr. Andrea Scozzari and operators of analytical devices Irina Nikolaeva, Yuri Kolmogorov, Nadezhda Palchic. This study was supported by grants RFBR No. 11-05-00742 and No. MK-3242-2011.5 of the Foundation of the Russian Federation President.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science (SB RAS), Novosibirsk, Russia

    Svetlana Bortnikova, Nataliya Yurkevich, Yury Karin & Olga Saeva

  2. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science (SB RAS), Novosibirsk, Russia

    Elisaveta Bessonova

Authors
  1. Svetlana Bortnikova
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  2. Nataliya Yurkevich
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  3. Elisaveta Bessonova
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  4. Yury Karin
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  5. Olga Saeva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Svetlana Bortnikova .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technologies (CNR-ISTI), CNR Institute of Information Science and, Pisa, Italy

    Andrea Scozzari

  2. Institute of Material Science, NCRS “Demokritos”, Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece

    Elissavet Dotsika

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Bortnikova, S., Yurkevich, N., Bessonova, E., Karin, Y., Saeva, O. (2013). The Combination of Geoelectrical Measurements and Hydro-Geochemical Studies for the Evaluation of Groundwater Pollution in Mining Tailings Areas. In: Scozzari, A., Dotsika, E. (eds) Threats to the Quality of Groundwater Resources. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 40. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2013_234

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