Quantification of diffuse iron discharge into surface waters in the Lusatian lignite mining district

摘要

Lignite mining affects the water balance and the water quality of surface water and groundwater on a large scale. The interactions between surface water and groundwater play an important role in the different stages of active mining, remediation mining and post-mining. A current problem of the remediation mining is the diffuse discharge of contaminated groundwater into surface water. This results in acidification and iron hydroxide precipitation in the surface water. This paper shows two case studies where it was possible to quantify diffuse discharges of groundwater into surface waters in a reliable way and with an appropriate measurement effort.