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Sulfide oxidation in brown coal overburden and chemical modeling of reactions in aquifers influenced by sulfide oxidation

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

Surface mining of brown coal in the Rhineland brown coal mining area (Germany) causes acidification of pyritic sandy overburden sediments. Convective transport of air, indicated by an enrichment of nitrogen gas in oxidized overburden, is, in addition to diffusion of oxygen, the driving mechanism for sulfide oxidation. Products of sulfide oxidation (2SO4 2− + 2H+ + Fe2+) stored in acidic material in the overburden dump are leached by groundwater filling the dump and react with the carbonate phases of nonacidic material. The resulting hydrochemical composition (up to 6000 mg l−1 SO4 2−, 3000 mg l−1 Fe2+, pH 4.5) in groundwaters is controlled by simultaneous solubility equilibria with CaSO4·2H2O(s), Fe(OH)3(s), Fe0.9Ca0.1CO3(s) and CO2(g). Calculated equilibrium concentrations of major components and pH in groundwater, partial pressure of CO2(g) in soil gas, and coupled mass transfer match observed conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut f. Geologie und Paläontologie, Technische Universität Clausthal, Leibnitzstr. 10, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    W. van Berk

  2. Institut f. Geologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitatsstr. 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany

    F. Wisotzky

Authors
  1. W. van Berk
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  2. F. Wisotzky
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van Berk, W., Wisotzky, F. Sulfide oxidation in brown coal overburden and chemical modeling of reactions in aquifers influenced by sulfide oxidation. Geo 26, 192–196 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00768742

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00768742

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