New Methods for Modeling the Transport of Metals from Mineral Processing Wastes into Surface Waters

摘要

The estimation of contaminant fluxes into and within river basins is the aim of the research. These new methods for estimating contaminant loadings and fate on a comprehensive basin scale based on assembled subsite behaviors have been demonstrated for a collection of Superfund sites in the Upper Clark Fork River basin in Montana. This portion of the demonstration illustrates a new set of techniques for estimating the overland and surface water movement of mine waste constituents. A linked assessment system--consisting of contaminant transformation, nonpoint source and groundwater mixing and transport, surface hydrology and erosion, and surface water quality models--has been developed, written, tested, and applied at the site. Principal portions of the assessment system are described. The object of the project is to show the importance of comparing phenomenological hypotheses with field observations for large-scale exposure models. Graphs of the river copper concentration show a good fit between the measured and predicted concentrations at some stations, whereas substantial deviations from field measurements are observed at other stations along the course of the river. (Copyright (c) 1991 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.)