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Drying–wetting cycles facilitated mobilization and transport of metal-rich colloidal particles from exposed mine tailing into soil in a gold mining region along the Silk Road

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Abstract

Exposed mine tailings could release substantial amounts of toxic metal-rich colloidal particles into soils during drying–wetting (D–W) cycles, but the mechanisms are still incompletely understood. In this study, two-layered (tailings above and soils below) packed columns were set to explore the effects of D–W cycles on tailing particle (TP) mobilization and transport in soil, and the mediating effect of TPs on the release and transport of heavy metals (Pb and Cu) was also examined. Results show that D–W cycles enhanced colloidal TP (approximately 190–712 nm) release from the column. The enhancing effect depends on duration of drying period, being slight for short-term drying (1, 3, 7, and 14 days) and significant for long-term drying (30, 60, and 90 days). The most interesting observation is the concentration valley of the effluent TPs during wetting event after 7- and 14-day drying. Based on these results, the dependence of TP mobilization and transport upon drying duration can be attributed to a combined action of different particle generation mechanisms during different drying periods, which appears to be relevant to the pore water content. The release and transport of Pb and Cu from the tailings into soil were dominantly mediated by the TPs and significantly enhanced by D–W cycles. These findings improve the understanding of TPs mobilization and transport in soil under fluctuating weather conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the Land and Resources Scientific Research of China from special fund in the public interest (No. 201111020), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40872164; 41502240), NPU Foundation for Fundamental Research (Grant No. JCY20130145), China geological survey project (12120114056201), graduate starting seed of Northwestern polytechnical university (No. Z2015147), and Tongguan gold area field scientific observation and research base of Ministry of Land and Resources of China.

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  1. School of Natural and Applied Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710129, China

    Cong Lu, Yaoguo Wu & Sihai Hu

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  1. Cong Lu
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Correspondence to Yaoguo Wu.

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This article is a part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Advances of Research in Soil, Water, Environment, and Geologic Hazards Along the Silk Road” guest edited by Drs. Peiyue Li, Hui Qian and Wanfang Zhou.

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Lu, C., Wu, Y. & Hu, S. Drying–wetting cycles facilitated mobilization and transport of metal-rich colloidal particles from exposed mine tailing into soil in a gold mining region along the Silk Road. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1031 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5812-1

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