Biogeochemistry of metalliferous mine tailings during phytostabilizatio

Abstract:

In the semi-arid southwest US, legacy mine tailings and the associated metal(loid) contaminants, are prone to wind dispersion and water erosion. Without remediation, tailings can remain barren for decades to centuries, providing a point source of toxic contamination. Successful mitigation of toxins (As, Pb) from fugitive dust is often limited to confinement and stabilization. Capping mine tailings with soil or gravel is an accepted, although expensive, strategy to reduce erosion. Revegetation via assisted direct planting (also known as phytostabilization) has the potential to be a cost-effective and self-sustaining alternative “green-technology” to expensive capping. The impact of phytostabilization, and requisite added organic carbon and irrigation on mechanisms of contaminant mobility is being investigated with concurrent highly-instrumented greenhouse mesocosms and in situ field studies using advanced microbiological tools and synchrotron x-ray based molecular probes. Composted treatments initially neutralized the near surface acid tailings (~2 to ~6.5). However, after 9 mo the mesocosms showed a gradual and eventual decrease back to pH 2. The exception was the root zone of Atriplex lentiformis, which buffered the acidic conditions for 12 months. Rhizosphere microbiota experienced a 5-log increase in the compost-amended compared to control greenhouse mesocosms. Weathering of the primary sulfidic mineral assemblage, indicated by the iron and sulfur speciation, was shown to control the mobility, speciation and bioavailability of both As and Pb via sequestration in (meta)stable neoformed jarosite phases as plumbojarosite and As(V) substituted for sulfate in hydronium jarosite, with important implications for human and environmental health risk management. We conclude that the disequilibrium imposed by phytostabilization results in an increase of heterotrophic biomass that is concurrent with a time series of geochemical transformations, which controls the species, fate, and bioavailability of toxic metal(loid)s. This long-term, multi-disciplinary, multi-scale study describes changes in contaminant lability promoted by biogeochemical weathering and helps establish the feasibility of phytostabilization.