Abstract
Mt. Amiata, located in central Italy, is characterized by the presence of large deposits of cinnabar (mercury sulfide) from which mercury has been extracted since ancient Roman times. The Abbadia San Salvatore mining and smelting plant was the largest in the Amiata district until it was permanently shut down in 1982. About 2 million flasks of mercury (34.5 kg each) were produced in the 80-year period the plant was in use. At present, this zone is the site of abandoned mine structures, and in 1990 some buildings were restored and converted for commercial activities. A mercury flux of too g/h from the mine structures was estimated in July 1995 using the LIDAR remote sensing technique. Using point monitors, a map was made of the distribution of air mercury levels around these structures, showing very high values (1000–15 000 ng/m3) near the old furnaces and cooling towers. The air mercury concentrations inside the restored mine buildings range from 200 to 2200 ng/ m3, with higher values in the winter months due to decreased ventilation.
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Ferrara, R. et al. (1999). Atmospheric Mercury in Abandoned Mine Structures and Restored Mine Buildings at Mt. Amiata, Italy. In: Ebinghaus, R., Turner, R.R., de Lacerda, L.D., Vasiliev, O., Salomons, W. (eds) Mercury Contaminated Sites. Environmental Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03754-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03754-6_13
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