Incorporating Wail Rock Runoff into Pit Lake Water Quality Modeling in the Arid Western United States

摘要

Constituent mass loading from pit wall runoff is increasingly incorporated into pit lake water quality models. In arid climates, pit wall runoff is a small portion of the pit lake water balance, but can be an important contributor to the chemical mass balance. Review of publicly available documents for recent pit lake models in the western United States demonstrates the importance of quantifying the effects of runoff coefficients, water quality, and pit geomorphol-ogy on wall runoff mass contributions to pit lakes.