Evaluating How Downstream Tailings Deposits Impact the Effectiveness
of Remediation Plans
| Type |
- Remediation Feasibility Studies
- Remediation Performance Monitoring
- Site Characterization
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| Location |
Upper Arkansas River, Colorado (downstream from Leadville,
Colorado) |
| Partners |
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| Technology |
- Final Technology To Be Determined
- Limestone and Biosolids Amendments Pilot Tests
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| Contaminants |
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| Description |
Tailings deposited downstream from mining sites in the Leadville,
Colorado, area represent a potential non-point source of metals
and acidic waters to the Upper Arkansas River, Colorado. To understand
how significant this non-point source of pollution is and its impact
on the effectiveness of remediation plans, USGS scientists and their
partners have embarked on a study to evaluate the water-quality
impacts of tailing deposits in the Upper Arkansas River's floodplain.
Results show that the impact the tailings have depends on the goal
of the remediation plan (total ecosystem health or attainment of
water-quality criteria in the river) and on the scale of the observation
(batch leaching test, ground-water samples, or downstream water-quality
sampling). For example, if restoring ground-water quality is a goal
of the remediation, then the tailings have had an impact. Water-quality
monitoring has shown that this has happened--ground-water quality
beneath the tailings deposits has been degraded (lowered pH and
elevated metal concentrations). To investigate this further, USGS
scientists and their partners initiated a study in 1998 to help
determine the effects of remediating the tailings in-situ on the
quality of ground water immediately beneath the remediated areas.
The remediation consisted of incorporating limestone and biosolids
into the surface of the tailings deposits. The goals of the remediation
were twofold. First, to enhance the quality of the soil so the sites
can be revegetated, and second, to increase the quality of ground
water 1-meter below the surface through the percolation of alkalinity
generating solutes. Preliminary results of ongoing water-quality
monitoring are mixed and indicate that some of the soluble products
of the incorporated limestone and biosolids have percolated into
the shallow ground water. However, increased alkalinity from the
remediation is not penetrating beyond 30 centimeters, indicating
that acid-producing materials in the unsaturated
zone of the tailings deposits are consuming the alkalinity generated
by the limestone. USGS partners have used these results to redesign
subsequent remedial plans for the fluvial tailings deposits. In
summary, this project shows the importance of monitoring to assess
the effects and performance of the remediation.
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| More Information |
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| Contact |
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| Publications |
- Smith, K.S., Walton-Day, K., and Ranville, J.F., 1999,
- Considerations
of observational scale when evaluating the effect of, and remediation
strategies for, a fluvial tailings deposit in the Upper Arkansas
River Basin, Colorado, in Morganwalp, D.W., and Buxton, H.T.,
eds., U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings
of the Technical Meeting, Charleston, South Carolina, March 8-12,
1999--Volume 1 of 3--Contamination from Hardrock Mining: U.S.
Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4018A,
p. 131-138.
- Smith, K.S., Walton-Day, K., and Ranville, J.F., 2000,
- Evaluating
the effects of fluvial tailings deposits on water quality in the
upper Arkansas River basin, Colorado--Observational scale considerations,
in Proceedings from the Fifth International Conference on Acid
Rock Drainage, Denver, Colorado, May 21-24, 2000: Littleton, Colorado,
Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, v. II, p. 1415-1424.
- Smith, K.S., Walton-Day, K., and Ranville, J.F., 2001,
- Considerations
of observational scale when evaluating the effect of, and remediation
strategies for, a fluvial tailings deposit in the upper Arkansas
River Basin, Colorado, USA [abstract], in Proceedings of the
Earth System Processes Global Meeting, June 24-28, 2001, Edinburgh,
Scotland.
- Walton-Day, K., Healy, R.W., Maestas, F.B., and Ranalli, A.J.,
2000,
- Effects of remediation on geochemistry and hydrology of the
unsaturated zone of fluvial tailings deposits in the floodplain
of the upper Arkansas River, Colorado, in Proceedings from the
Fifth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, Denver,
Colorado, May 21-24, 2000: Littleton, Colorado, Society for Mining,
Metallurgy, and Exploration, p. 1443-1450.
- Walton-Day, K., Rossi, F.J., Gerner, L.J., Evans, J.B., Yager,
T.J., Ranville, J.F., and Smith, K.S., 2000,
- Effects of fluvial tailings deposits on soils and surface- and
ground-water quality, and implications for remediation--Upper
Arkansas River, Colorado, 1992-1996: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources
Investigations Report 99-4273, 100 p.
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| Links |
USGS Acid Mine Drainage Remediation Projects
- USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative
- Acidic Plume Remediation Monitoring,
Pinal Creek, AZ
- Lake Coeur d'Alene Remediation
Assessment
- Summitville Mine and its Downstream
Effects
- Aquatic
Toxicology, Aquatic Physical Habitat, and Sediment Analysis in
Evaluating Land Mine Remediation Measures, Animas River, San
Juan County, Colorado
- Bear-Yuba
Watersheds Interagency Abandoned Mine Lands Project, Bear-Yuba
Watersheds, California
- Benthic
Macroinvertebrate Assessment of Abandoned Mine Lands Runoff and
the Development of Endpoints for the Determination of Ecological
Attainability in the Boulder River, Boulder River, Montana
- Effects
of Nutrients on the Formation of Acidic Mine Drainage
- Integration
of Geological and Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Impacts
on Stream and Riparian Resources, Boulder River, Montana,
and Upper Animas River, Colorado
- Remediating
Some of the World's Most Acidic Waters at the Iron Mountain Superfund
Site--A Tough Challenge for Scientists
- Restoration
of Stream Water Degraded by Acid Mine Drainage, Toby Creek
Mine Drainage Treatment Plant, Elk County, Pennsylvania
- Swatara Creek Basin, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
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