The Legacy of Potential Environmental Soil Contamination in an Antimony Mining Heritage Area

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2023-02-11

Autores

António Fiúza (Autor) FEUP; Aurora Futuro (Autor) FEUP; Joaquim Gois (Autor) FEUP; M. Lurdes Dinis (Autor) FEUP; Cristina Vila (Autor) FEUP; Soeiro Carvalho (Autor) FEUP; António Fernandes (Autor) FEUP

Revista

Título: Minerals

Vol. 13

Páginas: 1-257

Editora: MDPI

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citações

Scopus - 2 Citações

Classificação Científica

CORDIS: Ciências Tecnológicas > Engenharia ; Ciências Naturais > Ciências do ambiente

FOS: Ciências exactas e naturais > Ciências da terra e ciências do ambiente ; Ciências exactas e naturais > Matemática

Projetos Associados

SHS - Soil health surrounding former mining areas: characterization, risk analysis, and intervention

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-00X-WA5

DOI: 10.3390/min13020257

Abstract (EN): In the Valongo Belt, with an extension of about 90 km, located very close to Porto, northern Portugal, dozens of ore deposits of various metallic minerals and coal were exploited in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the metals most intensely exploited was antimony, with or without associated gold mineralization. This research intends to verify the extent of the current environmental legacy of ancient antimony mining. A typical old mine was selected. The main objectives were to verify whether the environmental legacy still manifests today, how natural processes contributed to an environmental dispersion of the mining footprint and whether the environmental legacy was absorbed by developments in a new landscape modified by anthropic activities. The topography of the area was captured using a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) based drone system. The regional background was characterized by the geo-referenced chemical analysis of 157 soil samples, collected in a 35 x 35 m grid. The former mining area was characterized by 58 supplementary samples. The mining area is distinct from the background by higher antimony and zinc levels, constituting two distinct populations, as confirmed by statistical tests. In the samples collected in the industrial zone, six elements were considered contaminants: As, Cu, Mo, Sb, Sn and Zn. The concentrations of these elements were statistically examined using multivariate statistical analyses (principal component analysis and correspondence analysis). The main conclusions are: (a) the mining heritage area is discernible from the highly mineralized background; (b) in the mining zone, it is possible to distinguish the processing industrial area from the waste rock storage; (c) the natural processes of environmental dispersion were of little relevance; (d) the environmental legacy was smoothed and mostly incorporated into the new post-industrial landscape created by anthropic activities.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 19