Geochemical evaluation of bottom sediments affected by historic mining and the rupture of the Fund ão dam, Brazil.

Geochemical evaluation of bottom sediments affected by historic mining and the rupture of the Fundão dam, Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Dec 12;: Authors: Dos Reis DA, Nascimento LP, de Abreu AT, Nalini Júnior HA, Roeser HMP, da Fonseca Santiago A Abstract The rupture of the Fundão dam released about 39 million m3 of tailings into the Rio Doce/Brazil. The sediment load increase in the affected rivers has become a concern. As such, this article provides recent information about the region. In addition, based on past studies in the region, it shows the magnitude and dynamics of the environmental impacts caused by the rupture of the dam on the bottom sediments. Sediment samples in different seasonal periods were collected at eleven sampling stations located along the Gualaxo do Norte River, the first tributary of the Rio Doce affected by the environmental disaster. These sediments underwent physical, chemical, and granulometric analyses for their organic, metal, and semimetal content. The contamination factor and the enrichment factor of the samples also were calculated. To evaluate the anthropogenic contributions to sediment metal concentrations, reference values (regional background values) for the Gualaxo do Norte River were used. The results indicate that, in the sampling stations not affected by the disaster, the concentrations of the metals and semimetals reflect the geology of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero. However, i...
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Source Type: research