Phytostabilization is a remediation technology that uses plants for in-situ stabilization of contamination in soils and mine tailings. The objective of this study was to identify native plant species with potential for phytostabilization of the abandoned mine tailings in Nacozari, Sonora in northern Mexico. A flora of 42 species in 16 families of angiosperms was recorded on the tailings site an...

Coal-bearing strata that host rare metal deposits are currently a hot issue in the field of coal geology. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the mineralogy, geochemistry, and potential economic significance of rare metals in the late Permian tuff in Zhongliangshan mine, Chongqing, southwestern China. The methods applied in this study are X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), inductivel...

Between 2002 and 2012, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior spent on average $3.13 billion per year on wildland fire protection [1]. Nearly $1 billion of that funding was devoted solely to fire suppression efforts. Currently, allocating resources for fire suppression is a subjective process, relying in many cases on individual commanders’ decisions that are based on insuff...

A geochemical modeling of gold deposition was performed using the EQ3/EQ6 software package using conditions inferred from geological, petrographic, geochemical and fluid inclusion data from the Bloco do Butiá gold mine, Lavras do Sul, RS. Gold in the mine occurs only in the pyrite structure (invisible gold). The pyrite occurs associated with white mica (phengite) in the zone of phyllic alterati...

In 2000, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR; Atlanta, GA, USA) investigated lung disease in those exposed to the tremolite-contaminated vermiculite mine in Libby, MT, USA. Previously unreported spirometric results are presented here in relation to exposure and radiographic findings. 4,524 study participants were assigned to one of seven mutually exclusive exposure categ...

The aim of our study was to investigate how exposure to heavy metal-rich waters from gypsum mining affects the morphology and levels of primary DNA damage in Gammarus balcanicus. Chemical analysis revealed increased concentrations of metals in water and sediment collected at a site impacted by gypsum mine wastewaters. The specimens also showed elevated total tissue metal levels when compared wi...

The disposal of sulfide mine tailings in an environmentally sound, yet cost-effective, manner is an issue facing most metal mines. Subaqueous tailing disposal is considered an attractive option for disposal that limits oxygen (O2) availability within sulfide mine tailings and controlling sulfide oxidation and the resultant acid mine drainage (AMD). Assuming that O2 profiles represent steady-sta...

The Norwegian long-term program for military use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) reached an important milestone in December 2001, when the concept of AUV based mine hunting and rapid environmental assessment (REA) was demonstrated from the Oksøy class mine hunting vessel KNM Karmøy. Within one day, the complete concept of AUV based mine hunting was demonstrated: The HUGIN AUV was progr...

Over the past half century, a surprising number of major pollution incidents occurred due to tailings dam failures. Most previous studies of such incidents comprised forensic analyses of environmental impacts after a tailings dam failure, with few considering the combined pollution risk before incidents occur at a watershed-scale. We therefore propose Watershed-scale Tailings-pond Pollution Ris...

We revisit a small but extremely significant collection of bird and pterosaur bones from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) of western Romania. These fossils were collected in the late 1970s and early 1980s from a Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) conglomerate lens deep in a bauxite mine at Cornet, close to the city of Oradea, Romania, and they caused a sensation when first described. Some fossils w...