scholarly journals Water Chemistry and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Ecology in Response to Acid Mine Drainage

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Water Chemistry ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Acid Mine

In situ studies with Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) detect acid mine drainage and nutrient inputs in low-order streams

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Soucek ◽  
Travis S Schmidt ◽  
Donald S Cherry
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Corbicula Fluminea ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Community ◽  
Benthic Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Nutrient Inputs ◽  
Community Responses ◽  
Acid Mine

In situ Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea [Müller]) studies may effectively mirror resident community responses to both acute toxicants and nutrient inputs in low-order streams. Clam survival and growth after 30 days in situ were compared with benthic macroinvertebrate community structural changes caused by acid mine drainage (AMD) and nutrient loading (measured as nitrate) in a small subwatershed of the North Fork Powell River, Virginia, U.S.A. Clam survival distinguished between two different levels of impact due to acidic, neutralized, and intermittent AMD inputs and was positively correlated with water column pH and negatively correlated with conductivity and metal con centrations. Survival was also positively correlated with relative abundance of the order Ephemeroptera, the most sensitive macroinvertebrate taxonomic group to AMD in this system. Clam growth was not related to AMD inputs but was positively correlated with nitrate concentrations and the relative abundance of the collector-filterer functional feeding group. These results suggest that transplanted clam studies accurately reflect benthic macroinvertebrate community responses to multiple stressors from point and nonpoint sources.

scholarly journals Mineralogical and geochemical variation in stream sediments impacted by acid mine drainage is related to hydro-geomorphic setting

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Singer ◽  
Anne J. Jefferson ◽  
Eric L. Traub ◽  
Nicolas Perdrial
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Water Chemistry ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Pore Water Chemistry ◽  
Hydraulic Gradients ◽  
Debris Dam

Acid mine drainage (AMD) discharge has severe, long lasting impacts on water quality and stream ecology in affected watersheds due in part to the dynamic relationship between toxic metals (e.g. Al, Mn, and Cu) and Fe(III) oxy-hydroxides. Localized areas of biogeochemical activity that can mediate mineralogical transformation changes and cause metal release are potentially linked to stream geomorphology. This relationship has not been previously considered with respect to potential longitudinal variation within an impacted stream. The current work aims to determine how Fe(III) (oxy)-hydroxide speciation and distribution, and pore water chemistry in an AMD-impacted streambed, are affected by the presence of two geomorphic structures (a debris dam and step-pool sequence) in an Ohio watershed impacted by historical coal mining. In terms of solid phase mineralogy and geochemistry, in both the tributary and main stem, goethite was the dominant Fe-bearing phase throughout the AMD deposit depth in cores taken upstream of the geomorphic structures, whereas poorly-crystalline phases dominated downstream of the structures, despite the presence of Fe in the reducible fraction. The concentrations and distribution of extractable Al, Mn, and Cu were also different upstream versus downstream of each structure. Pore water Fe and Mn concentrations were higher downstream of the structures than upstream. Strong downward hydraulic gradients were present above the debris dam and in step-pool 1, whereas weaker upward hydraulic gradients were present below the debris dam and in step-pool 2. This work highlights that AMD deposit speciation and distribution, and pore water chemistry, are not spatially uniform within stream reaches, potentially as a result of groundwater-stream exchange-facilitated interactions in the presence of AMD-derived materials.

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