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Geochemistry of Chilean Rivers Within the Central Zone: Distinguishing the Impact of Mining, Lithology and Physical Weathering

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Abstract

Several rivers of Chile from the latitude 30°–38° have been sampled during a stable anticyclonic period (October 2008). Firstly, our aim was to evaluate the dissolved chemical composition (major and trace elements) of poorly known central Chilean rivers. Secondly, we used a co-inertia analysis (see Dolédec and Chessel in Freshw Biol 31:277–294, 1994) to explore the possible relationships between the concentrations of elements and the environmental parameters [surface of the basin (km2)/mining activity (%)/average height (m)/watershed mean slope (%)/% of the surface covered by vegetation, sedimentary rocks, volcano-sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, granitoid rocks/erosion rate (mm/year)]. Globally, the major elements concentration could be explained by a strong control of mixed silicate and carbonate and evaporate lithology. The statistical treatment reveals that the highest metal and metalloids loads of Tinguiririca, Cachapoal, Aconcagua, Choapa, Illapel and Limari could be explained by the contribution of the mining activities in the uppermost part of these watersheds and/or by the higher geochemical background. Indeed, it remains difficult to decipher between a real mining impact and a higher geochemical background. Even if these rivers could be impacted by AMD process, the size of these watersheds is capable of diluting AMD waters by the alkaline character of tributaries that induce acid neutralization and decrease the level of metals and metalloids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GET, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    J. Viers, S. Carretier, Y. Auda, O. S. Pokrovsky, V. Regard & G. Herail

  2. HSM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    P. Seyler

  3. LHyGeS, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

    F. Chabaux

  4. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

    V. Tolorza

Authors
  1. J. Viers
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  2. S. Carretier
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  3. Y. Auda
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  4. O. S. Pokrovsky
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  5. P. Seyler
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  6. F. Chabaux
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  7. V. Regard
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  8. V. Tolorza
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  9. G. Herail
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Correspondence to J. Viers.

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10498_2019_9350_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Figure S1: comparison of the water discharge, temperature and precipitation of the year 2008 with the whole database (1963–2016). Figure S1A: Illapel River at the Las Burras station (PDF 8 kb)

Figure S1B: Maipo River at the El Manzano station (PDF 8 kb)

Figure S1C: Biobio River at the Desembocadura station (PDF 8 kb)

10498_2019_9350_MOESM4_ESM.pptx

Figure S2: conductivity (µs/cm) measured in each river sample. When several samples of the same river were collected, they are named “1,” “2,” “3,” etc., going from east to west (= increasing watershed surface). When only one sample was collected, the value is in position “1” (PPTX 39 kb)

10498_2019_9350_MOESM5_ESM.pptx

Figure S3-A: cationic distribution (in percentage) for each river sample. When several samples of the same river were collected, the direction of the arrow indicates the west direction (= increasing watershed surface) (PPTX 45 kb)

10498_2019_9350_MOESM6_ESM.pptx

Figure S3-B: anionic distribution (in percentage) for each river sample. When several samples of the same river were collected, the direction of the arrow indicates the west direction (= increasing watershed surface) (PPTX 44 kb)

10498_2019_9350_MOESM7_ESM.xls

Table S1: presentation of the data and calculation used to define the environmental parameters listed in Table 1 (XLS 33 kb)

10498_2019_9350_MOESM8_ESM.xlsx

Table S2: detection and quantification limit. LD = 3*SBlanc (with S sigma on the blank average) and LQ = 10*SBlanc (XLSX 10 kb)

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Viers, J., Carretier, S., Auda, Y. et al. Geochemistry of Chilean Rivers Within the Central Zone: Distinguishing the Impact of Mining, Lithology and Physical Weathering. Aquat Geochem 25, 27–48 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-019-09350-1

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