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Publication
Water-rock interaction and potential ontamination risk in a U-enriched area
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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The Picoto mining area is in the village of Vilar Seco (Viseu), central Portugal. Mineralization
occurs mainly in quartz veins with meta-torbernite and uranophane and some U-bearing
minerals, cutting a Variscan granite. Exploitation took place in two phases, between 1917 and 1953,
and since the closure, the area has never been remediated. Water–rock interaction processes, including
the mobility of potentially toxic elements through soil and water (surface and groundwater),
were identified with the determination in situ of physicochemical parameters and selected anions
and cations, by ICP-OES. The soils are contaminated with As (>44 mg/kg), Cu (>23 mg/kg), and U
(>40 mg/kg) and cannot be used for agricultural or domestic purposes. The waters are generally
weakly mineralized and have pH values ranging from acidic to neutral. However, some of them
are contaminated with NO2 (up to 2.3 mg/L), Fe (up to 1849 mg/L), Mn (up to 777 mg/L), Cu
(up to 5.4 g/L), As (up to 14.7 g/L), and U (up to 66.2 g/L) and cannot be used for human
consumption or agricultural activities. The soil and water contamination are mainly related to the
old mine activities and the subsequent human activities that have developed in the area.
Description
Keywords
Radium/uranium mines Soil Water Environmental risk Central Portugal
Pedagogical Context
Citation
ANTUNES, I.M.H.R. [et al.] (2021) - Water-rock interaction and potential ontamination risk in a U-enriched area. Geosciences 2021, 11, 217. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11050217
Publisher
MDPI