BACKGROUND, AIM, AND SCOPE Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) have been recognized as a suitable tool to assess in situ metal bioavailability in soils. Mine tailings have some singular characteristics such as high heavy-metal concentrations, low pH, or absence of water retention capacity that may compromise the correct application of this technique whose applicability is known to be pH dep...

Heavy metals are considered as one of the important pollutants in the environment, particularly in the aquatic ecosystems. The presence of cadmium in food chain is toxic to human health. Different physical or chemical methods have been used for removing heavy metal ions in the water and wastewater treatments. The aim of this work was to assess the possibility of Cd removal from aqueous solution...

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the feasibility of growing energy sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) in three different metal mine tailings (Cu, Sn and Pb/Zn tailings) amended with uncontaminated soil at different mixing ratios. The results indicated that sugarcane was highly tolerant to tailing environments. Amendments of 20% soil to Sn tailings and 30% soil to Cu tailings could increase...

We tested the efTect oC the addition oC biosolids combined with a native rnycorrhizal inoculum (Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi [AMF]) 00 growth oC a native Australian grass, and 00 trace element stabilization oC sulphidic gold mine tailings. A glasshouse trial was established 00 four substrates: tailings (T); tailings with a layer oC 5 cm topsoil (TS); tailings amended with 100 dry t ha-1 biosoli...

an ex-situ experiment to assess the metal extractive potential of fourteen agriculture plants (vigna unguiculata, gossypium hirsutum, jatropha curcas, etc.) was conducted on magnesite mines which had above permissible levels of cadmium and lead. there was no much difference in the total chlorophyll a and b, carbohydrate and protein contents in the plants grown in the mining soil and adjacent co...

Pyrrhotite-bearing tailings were deposited in an impoundment at the Copper mine at Laver in Northern Sweden 1936-1946. Sulphide oxidation has released acidity and metals to the recipient since deposition. Sampling of surface water was performed in a brook draining the tailings impoundment in 1993, 2001 and 2004-05. The dissolved concentration of sulphide associated elements such as Cu, S and Zn...

A sediment quality triad (SQT) assessment was made of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on littoral meiofaunal assemblages in the Atacama region of northern Chile. This situation is unusual in that the disposal is direct into the high-energy coastal system and not via a river estuary or other low-energy environment. This situation also allows for the examination of the impact of coppe...

The residues from the extraction of lead/zinc (Pb/Zn) ores of most Pb/Zn mines are permanently stored in tailings ponds, which require revegetation to reduce their environmental impact. This can only be done if the main constraints on plant establishment are evaluated. This can readily be done by field and greenhouse studies. To test this, the properties of different tailings from Lechang Pb/Zn...

Nitrogen limitation represents a major bottleneck during the revegetation of mine tailings. However, controls over key nitrogen-cycling genes in rhizospheric soils under differential vegetation management remain poorly understood. The abundance and transcriptional activity of nitrogen-cycling genes and the enzymatic activity of nitrogen transformation are mediated differentially during revegeta...