Metals behaviour in an estuary affected by acid mine drainage during a tidal cycle (Tinto River estuary, SW Spain)

Authors

  • Laura Sánchez López Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva
  • Jonatan Romero-Matos Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva
  • Rafael Pérez-López Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva
  • Carlos Ruiz Cánovas Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva
  • María Dolores Basallote Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Costera, Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (ICMAN), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Cádiz
  • Maira Castellanos Vásquez Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva
  • Gerardo Amaya Yaeggy Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medioambiente (RENSMA), Universidad de Huelva

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55407/geogaceta100891

Keywords:

acidic waters, metal fate, sorption/desorption, seawater mixing

Abstract

The Tinto River estuary is severely affected by acid mine drainage. In this work, the behaviour of metals in the particulate and dissolved phases during the mixing of acid fluvial water and alkaline sea water throughout a tidal cycle is studied. The pH values ranged from 4.0 at ebb tide to 6.3 at high tide. During the rise of the tides there is an intense precipitation of mineral phases of Fe and Al that may remove As from solution and to a lesser extent Cu, Y and REE respectively. The previously retained As increases its proportion in the dissolved phase above pH ~ 5.4 probably due to desorption processes. Other elements such as Co, Cd, Ni, and Zn are found mainly in the dissolved phase, which shows quasi conservative behaviour. During low tide the concentrations in solution of all elements analysed increase due to the greater fluvial influence; however, As concentrations also increase during high tide, evidencing desorption processes at pH values close to neutrality. Understanding the sorption/desorption processes in estuaries is essential to predict the behaviour of metals in these environments.

References

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Topografía del detal del cráter Gusev (Marte)

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Published

2024-06-29

How to Cite

Sánchez López, L., Romero-Matos, J., Pérez-López, R., Ruiz Cánovas, C. ., Basallote, M. D., Castellanos Vásquez, M. ., & Amaya Yaeggy, G. (2024). Metals behaviour in an estuary affected by acid mine drainage during a tidal cycle (Tinto River estuary, SW Spain). GEOGACETA, 75, 87–90. https://doi.org/10.55407/geogaceta100891

Issue

Vol. 75 (2024): January-June

Section

Artículos

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Copyright (c) 2024 Laura Sánchez lópez, Jonatan Romero-Matos, Rafael Pérez-López, Carlos Ruiz Cánovas, María Dolores Basallote, Maira Castellanos Vásquez, Gerardo Amaya Yaeggy

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Until the year 2023 the author assigned the copyright to the Sociedad Geológica de España, but from 2024 the author retains the copyright and grants the Sociedad Geológica de España the right of first publication and non-exclusive distribution of each article in all current or future media, while transferring, also non-exclusively, the commercial rights for the distribution of the printed version of Geogaceta. On the other hand, the articles, from the year 2023, are available simultaneously with their publication, under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, which allows copying, transforming the work, but if any transformation is distributed, the new work must be distributed under the same license, and never for commercial purposes, while acknowledging the authorship and original publication in GEOGACETA, so that the only role of copyright is to give authors control over the integrity of their works and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.