Risk assessment of particle dispersion and trace e

Authors: Antonio Romero Isabel González José María Martín María Auxiliadora Vázquez Pilar Ortiz

Publish Date: 2014/09/05

Volume: 37, Issue: 2, Pages: 273-286

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Abstract

In this study a model to delimit risk zones influenced by atmospheric particle dispersion from minewaste dumps is developed to assess their influence on the soil and the population according to the concentration of trace elements in the waste The model is applied to the Riotinto Mine in SW Spain which has a long history of mining and heavy land contamination The waste materials are separated into three clusters according to the mapping mineralogy and geochemical classification using cluster analysis Two of the clusters are composed of slag fresh pyrite and roasted pyrite ashes which may contain high concentrations of trace elements eg 1  As or 4  Pb The average pollution load index PLI calculated for As Cd Co Cu Pb Tl and Zn versus the baseline of the regional soil is 19 The other cluster is primarily composed of sterile rocks and ochreous tailings and the average PLI is 3 The combination of particle dispersion calculated by a Gaussian model the PLI the surface area of each waste and the wind direction is used to develop a riskassessment model with Geographic Information System GIS software The zone of high risk can affect the agricultural soil and the population in the study area particularly if mining activity is restarted in the near future This model can be applied to spatial planning and environmental protection if the information is complemented with atmospheric particulate matter studiesThis work was supported by the Andalusian Autonomous Government Project P09RNM5163 and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Project CGL200806270C0202/CLI The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments

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