An Analysis of the Transportation of Metals and Trace Metals in an Abandoned Mine Drainage Treatment Site
Author:
Hannah Schultheis ’24Co-Authors:
Faculty Mentor(s):
Molly McGuire, ChemistryEllen Herman, Geology
Funding Source:
Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation Summer Environmental FellowshipAbstract
Abandoned mine drainage (AMD) is a contaminant problem that watersheds across the United States face. AMD is the result of water traveling through abandoned mines, dissolving harmful metals into the water, which is then brought out into streams and rivers. These toxic metals can cause harm to aquatic life, and can affect recreational activities. The treatment site known as scarlift site 15 works to remove iron from the contaminated water and lower the pH. The main goal of this research was to analyze the travel and transportation of these toxic metals in scarlift site 15, a passive mine drainage treatment site located in Ranshaw, PA.
Water samples from the treatment center were collected, filtered, and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ion chromatography (IC). These results were used to observe the patterns of where the metals precipitated in the system. These patterns were used in conjunction with the size of the particles in order to see if they were traveling attached or with another metal.
Cobalt, nickel, and zinc all follow the trend of precipitation out of the water that aluminum has. Iron primarily comes out without other trace metals, implying that the trace metals were finding another way out of the water. In the system, the iron was not coming out from the treatment within the system, but rather it was precipitating out of the water from sitting in the pools of the treatment site.