Selenium in a Wyoming grassland community receiving wastewater from an in situ uranium mine.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Water, soil, vegetation, grasshoppers, bird eggs, and bird livers collected at a 23.5-ha (58 acres) grassland irrigated with wastewater from an in situ uranium mine (study area) and a reference site in 1998 were analyzed for selenium and other trace elements. Selenium concentrations in the uranium mine wastewater applied onto the grassland ranged from 340 to 450 microg/L. Selenium in the upper 15 cm (6 in) of soil from the irrigated grassland at the mine ranged from 2.6 to 4.2 microg/g dry weight (DW). Mean selenium concentrations in soil and water were 5 and 15 times higher at the study area than at the reference site. Selenium concentrations in grasses and grasshoppers ranged from 6.8 to 24 microg/g and 11 to 20 microg/g DW, respectively. Selenium in red-winged blackbird eggs and livers collected from the study area ranged from 13.2 to 22 microg/g and 33 to 53 microg/g DW, respectively, and concentrations were well in excess of toxic thresholds. Mean selenium concentrations in grasses, grasshoppers, and bird eggs and livers were 5.8 to 30 times higher at the study area than at the reference site. Elevated selenium concentrations in water, soil, grasshoppers, and red-winged blackbird eggs and livers collected from the study area demonstrate that selenium is being mobilized and is bioaccumulating in the food chain.
منابع مشابه
Effects of Redox Potential on the Speciation of Selenium in Ground Water and Coal-Mine Backfill Materials, Wyoming Katta
متن کامل
Effects of uranium mining discharges on water quality in the Puerco River basin, Arizona and New Mexico
From 1967 until 1986, uranium mine dewatering increased dissolved gross alpha, gross beta, uranium and radium activities and dissolved selenium and molybdenum concentrations in the Puerco River as indicated by time trends, areal patterns involving distance from the mines and stream discharge. Additionally, increased dissolved uranium concentrations were identified in groundwater under the Puerc...
متن کاملGeochemical Processes Affecting the Mobility of Dissolved Selenium in Surface Coal Mine Backfill Environments
During surface Fadlelmawla', K.J. Reddf, and G.F. Vance3 coal mining, rock material overlying the coal is redistsibuted with respect to its original stratigraphic position. Oxidation of the redistributed backfill material may release dissolved selenium (Se) to groundwater in backfill systems. This study was initiated to examine the chemistry of Se in the groundwater backfill environment. Both b...
متن کاملIsolation and identification of native sulfuroxidizing bacterium capable of uranium extraction
Bioleaching is the extraction of metals from their ores through the use of microorganisms. Inthis process, the use of native bacteria leads to achieve more yields of metals. So, in the presentstudy, native sulfur-oxidizing bacterium in potentiality of uranium extraction was isolated fromGhachin mine in Iran and identified by partial gene sequencing. For this purpose, the watersamples were colle...
متن کاملPotential aquifer vulnerability in regions down-gradient from uranium in situ recovery (ISR) sites.
Sandstone-hosted roll-front uranium ore deposits originate when U(VI) dissolved in groundwater is reduced and precipitated as insoluble U(IV) minerals. Groundwater redox geochemistry, aqueous complexation, and solute migration are important in leaching uranium from source rocks and transporting it in low concentrations to a chemical redox interface where it is deposited in an ore zone typically...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology
دوره 42 4 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2002