Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China
Uranium (U) mining activities, which lead to contamination in soils and waters (i.e., leachate from U mill tailings), cause serious environmental problems. However, limited research works have been conducted on U pollution associated with a whole soil-water system. In this study, a total of 110 samp...
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doaj-fb9c14200e8f42d193a9c3b72b7f5cbe2020-11-25T01:30:14ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012020-01-0117377310.3390/ijerph17030773ijerph17030773Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern ChinaWenjie Ma0Bai Gao1Yadan Guo2Zhanxue Sun3Yanhong Zhang4Gongxin Chen5Xiaojie Zhu6Chunyan Zhang7Fundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaFundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China University of Technology, NanChang 330013, ChinaUranium (U) mining activities, which lead to contamination in soils and waters (i.e., leachate from U mill tailings), cause serious environmental problems. However, limited research works have been conducted on U pollution associated with a whole soil-water system. In this study, a total of 110 samples including 96 solid and 14 water samples were collected to investigate the characteristics of U distribution in a natural soil-water system near a U mining tailings pond. Results showed that U concentrations ranged from 0.09 ± 0.02 mg/kg to 2.56 × 10<sup>4</sup>± 23 mg/kg in solid samples, and varied greatly in different locations. For tailings sand samples, the highest U concentration (2.56× 10<sup>4</sup> ± 23 mg/kg) occurred at the depth of 80 cm underground, whereas, for paddy soil samples, the highest U concentration (5.22 ± 0.04 mg/kg) was found at surface layers. Geo-accumulation index and potential ecological hazard index were calculated to assess the hazard of U in the soils. The calculation results showed that half of the soil sampling sites were moderately polluted. For groundwater samples, U concentrations ranged from 0.55 ± 0.04 mg/L to 3.36 ± 0.02 mg/L with a mean value of 2.36 ± 0.36 mg/L, which was significantly lower than that of percolating waters (ranging from 4.56 ± 0.02 mg/L to 12.05 ± 0.04 mg/L, mean 7.91 ± 0.98 mg/L). The results of this study suggest that the distribution of U concentrations in a soil-water system was closely associated with hydrological cycles and U concentrations decreased with circulation path.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/773water–rock interactionscritical zonesuranium contaminationaquiferhazard assessment |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
Wenjie Ma Bai Gao Yadan Guo Zhanxue Sun Yanhong Zhang Gongxin Chen Xiaojie Zhu Chunyan Zhang |
| spellingShingle |
Wenjie Ma Bai Gao Yadan Guo Zhanxue Sun Yanhong Zhang Gongxin Chen Xiaojie Zhu Chunyan Zhang Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health water–rock interactions critical zones uranium contamination aquifer hazard assessment |
| author_facet |
Wenjie Ma Bai Gao Yadan Guo Zhanxue Sun Yanhong Zhang Gongxin Chen Xiaojie Zhu Chunyan Zhang |
| author_sort |
Wenjie Ma |
| title |
Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China |
| title_short |
Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China |
| title_full |
Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China |
| title_fullStr |
Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China |
| title_sort |
occurrence and distribution of uranium in a hydrological cycle around a uranium mill tailings pond, southern china |
| publisher |
MDPI AG |
| series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
| issn |
1660-4601 |
| publishDate |
2020-01-01 |
| description |
Uranium (U) mining activities, which lead to contamination in soils and waters (i.e., leachate from U mill tailings), cause serious environmental problems. However, limited research works have been conducted on U pollution associated with a whole soil-water system. In this study, a total of 110 samples including 96 solid and 14 water samples were collected to investigate the characteristics of U distribution in a natural soil-water system near a U mining tailings pond. Results showed that U concentrations ranged from 0.09 ± 0.02 mg/kg to 2.56 × 10<sup>4</sup>± 23 mg/kg in solid samples, and varied greatly in different locations. For tailings sand samples, the highest U concentration (2.56× 10<sup>4</sup> ± 23 mg/kg) occurred at the depth of 80 cm underground, whereas, for paddy soil samples, the highest U concentration (5.22 ± 0.04 mg/kg) was found at surface layers. Geo-accumulation index and potential ecological hazard index were calculated to assess the hazard of U in the soils. The calculation results showed that half of the soil sampling sites were moderately polluted. For groundwater samples, U concentrations ranged from 0.55 ± 0.04 mg/L to 3.36 ± 0.02 mg/L with a mean value of 2.36 ± 0.36 mg/L, which was significantly lower than that of percolating waters (ranging from 4.56 ± 0.02 mg/L to 12.05 ± 0.04 mg/L, mean 7.91 ± 0.98 mg/L). The results of this study suggest that the distribution of U concentrations in a soil-water system was closely associated with hydrological cycles and U concentrations decreased with circulation path. |
| topic |
water–rock interactions critical zones uranium contamination aquifer hazard assessment |
| url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/773 |
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