The impact of mining activities in the Ore Mountains on the Mulde river catchment upstream of the Mulde reservoir lake

摘要

Due to their origin in the Ore Mountains, the rivers Freiberger and Zwickauer Mulde up today are considered as major nationwide sources of heavy metals and arsenic. The paper describes the pollution in time and space. The concentration of the elements Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in the water has been predominantly declining since 1990, while arsenic concentration has remained virtually unchanged. Based on a mass balance study of the pollutant potential, major sources have been identified, quantified and evaluated in two polluted areas. A major part of the load increase in the Mulde rivers originates from point sources of these polluted areas (about 1/3 of Cd and Zn in the Freiberger Mulde and the arsenic in the Zwickauer Mulde), another part enters via tributaries from the catchment area. The results are exemplarily visualised for the elements arsenic and cadmium.