A year in the life of a mine dump: A diachronic case study

摘要

Studies of the geochemistry, geophysics, and local climate of a mine dump were initiated in July 1997 and continue at the time of this writing (September 1998). The dump is located at 3660 m. on semi-arid alpine tundra to the east of Leadville, Colorado. The site is of particular interest because of the presence of a large iron-stained area devoid of vegetation (kill-zone) running down slope from the base of the pile. The site has four instrumented wells with thermistors for ground temperature profiles. Detailed micro-climate observations and temperature profiles at well sites have been kept for over a year, at weekly to monthly sampling intervals. Preliminary data and observations suggest acid runoff occurs only during a brief period in late spring during normal weather years, causing the kill-zone; and acidity and total dissolved solids (TDS) content of runoff waters is much reduced within a few hundred meters down slope of the mine dump lile.