Shaoping Hu, Xincai Chen, Jiyan Shi, Yingxu Chen, Qi Lin
Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, PR China.
Chemosphere. 2008 May;71(11):2091-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.01.024. Epub 2008 Mar 10.
The role of acid rain in affecting Pb and As transport from mine tailings was investigated by pumping simulated acid rain at a infiltration rate of 10.2 cm/h through soil columns. Simulated acid rain with pH of 3.0, 4.5 and 5.6 were used as leaching solutions. Results showed that 86.9-95.9% of Pb and 90-91.8% of As eluted from the columns were adsorbed by particles in the leachates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that particles released from the columns were mainly composed of flocculated aggregates and plate or rod shaped discrete grains. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) showed that these particles were predominantly silicate minerals. Results from our experiments demonstrated that when rapid infiltration conditions or a rainstorm exist, particle-facilitated transport of contaminants is likely to the dominant metal transport pathway influenced by acid rain.
