Archaeology and Natural History, School of Culture, History and Language, College of the Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, 2601, Acton, ACT, Canberra, Australia.
Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Aug 1;728:137398. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137398. Epub 2020 Feb 19.
The Hunter and Latrobe Valleys have two of the richest coal deposits in Australia. They also host the largest coal-fired power stations in the country. We reconstructed metal deposition records in lake sediments in the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys to determine if metal deposition in freshwater lakes have increased in the region. The current regulatory arrangement applied to metal emissions from coal-fired power stations in Australia are presented, discussing their capacity to address future increases in metal deposition from these sources. Sediment records of spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs), a component of fly-ash, were also used as an additional line of evidence to identify the contribution of industrial activities related to electricity generation to metal deposition in regions surrounding open-cut coal mines and coal-fired power stations. Sediment metal concentrations and SCP counts in the sedimentary records, from the Hunter and Latrobe Valleys, both indicated that open-cut coal mining and the subsequent combustion of coal in power stations has most likely resulted in an increase in atmospheric deposition of metals in the local region. In particular, the metalloids As and Se showed the greatest enrichment compared to before coal mining commenced. Although the introduction of bag filters at Liddell Power Station and the decommissioning of Hazelwood Power Station appear to have resulted in a decrease of metal deposition in nearby lakes, overall metal deposition in the environment is still increasing. The challenge for the years to come will be to develop better regulation policies and tools that will contribute to reduce metal emissions in these major electricity production centres in Australia.
猎人谷和拉筹伯谷拥有澳大利亚最丰富的两个煤炭储量。它们还拥有该国最大的燃煤发电站。我们重建了猎人谷和拉筹伯谷湖泊沉积物中的金属沉积记录，以确定该地区淡水湖泊中的金属沉积是否增加。本文提出了适用于澳大利亚燃煤发电站金属排放的现行监管安排，并讨论了它们应对这些来源未来金属沉积增加的能力。球形碳质颗粒（SCP）的沉积物记录（飞灰的一个组成部分）也被用作额外的证据，以确定与露天煤矿和燃煤发电站相关的发电工业活动对周围地区金属沉积的贡献。来自猎人谷和拉筹伯谷的沉积物金属浓度和 SCP 计数都表明，露天煤矿开采以及随后在发电站燃烧煤炭，很可能导致当地大气中金属沉积的增加。特别是与煤矿开采前相比，类金属砷（As）和硒（Se）的富集程度最高。尽管利德尔发电站采用了袋式过滤器，黑兹尔伍德发电站已退役，但这似乎导致附近湖泊中的金属沉积减少，但环境中的金属沉积总体仍在增加。未来几年的挑战将是制定更好的监管政策和工具，以减少澳大利亚这些主要电力生产中心的金属排放。
