Composition, Distribution, and Hydrologic Effects of Contaminated Sediments Resulting from the Discharge of Gold Milling Wastes to Whitewood Creek at Lead and Deadwood, South Dakota

摘要

The objectives of the study were to determine the composition and distribution of the contaminated sediments, and the extent and rate of movement of surface- and ground-water contamination in the study area. The investigation included four main elements: Definition of the mineral composition and the physical and chemical characteristics of the contaminated sediments; determination of the areal extent of contamination on the flood plains of Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers. A geochemically based random, sediment-sampling program was conducted that allowed inferences to be made regarding the distribution of the contaminated sediments by determining the distribution of arsenic; documentation of the movement of contaminated sediments or any resultant leachate in the surface flow of Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers; identification of any ground-water contamination of the alluvial aquifers caused by leaching of contaminated sediments on the flood plains along Whitewood Creek and the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne Rivers.