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Impact of tailings dam failure on spatial features of copper contamination (Mazraeh mine area, Iran)

  • ICIEM 2016
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mining activities pose a potential risk of metal contamination around mining sites. On May 6, 2010, a tailings dam failure of the Mazraeh copper mine near Ahar in East Azerbaijan province, Iran, released vast amounts of mine wastes. To better understand the magnitude of copper contamination in the waste-affected soils, it is important to assess the spatial distribution of soil copper content at unsampled points. A total of 30 soil samples and their surficial sediments together with the 6 uncontaminated control samples (0–10 and 10–30 cm) were collected along the stream flow that joined Ahar-Chai River. Some of soil properties as well as total copper concentration were determined in all samples. The mean value of the latter in the surface contaminated soils was found to be approximately two times more than controls. Furthermore, the mean concentration of copper in the surface loaded material was 10 times more than the soils. High copper concentrations were observed in surficial sediments of the soils near the broken tailings dam. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method was employed in data analysis. The spherical and Gaussian semivariogram models were properly fitted to the data of copper contents in soils and surficial sediments.

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Abbreviations

IDW:

Inverse Distance Weighting

GPS:

Global Positioning System

EC:

Electrical conductivity

CEC:

Cation exchange capacity

OC:

Organic carbon

CCE:

Calcium carbonate equivalent

CF:

Contamination factor

SCC:

Soil copper concentration

CCS:

Copper concentration of surficial sediments

C 0 :

Nugget

C 0+C :

Sill

A0 :

Range of parameter

RSS:

Residual sum of squares

DSM:

Digital soil mapping

CV:

Coefficient of variation

UTM:

Universal Transfer Mercator

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, 5166616471, Iran

    Amir Khamseh, Farzin Shahbazi, Shahin Oustan & Nosrattollah Najafi

  2. Soil and Water Research Institute of Iran, Karaj, Iran

    Nasser Davatgar

Authors
  1. Amir Khamseh
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  2. Farzin Shahbazi
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  3. Shahin Oustan
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  4. Nosrattollah Najafi
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  5. Nasser Davatgar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Farzin Shahbazi.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development

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Khamseh, A., Shahbazi, F., Oustan, S. et al. Impact of tailings dam failure on spatial features of copper contamination (Mazraeh mine area, Iran). Arab J Geosci 10, 244 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3040-y

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