WP5: Environmental monitoring, modelling and risk assessment
Objective
The purpose of the research within the WP5 is to evaluate and test new methods for environmental monitoring, modelling and risk assessment. This task pursues to enhance environmentally sustainable mining by characterizing and evaluating the anthropogenic emissions compared to the geogenic background, modelling reactions and pathways of contaminants, and assessing the environmental risks.
Approach
A new approach of geochemical and isotope methods for investigation and monitoring of migration of harmful substances from mining sites and waste deposition areas will be carried out at case study sites in Romania and Finland. Geochemical characteristics of the emissions and their interaction with water and soil/sediment will be assessed by geochemical analyses and hydrogeochemical modelling. Stable isotope composition of waters will be used as a natural tracer for assessing groundwater sources, flow paths and interaction with surface waters. The isotopic fingerprint of water and solids in the mining areas will be investigated. A set of data, including S, Li, Mg, U, Sr, Pb, oxygen, and hydrogen isotopic ratios, combined with major solutes concentrations, will be acquired.
In addition, new water quality monitoring and field measurement equipment provided by the partners and from local measurement equipment companies, will be tested during the project. The results obtained from field measurements, laboratory and isotope analyses will be used in hydrogeochemical modelling for the prediction of chemical transformation and long-term impacts of mining at study sites. All data obtained in research is used in assessing the ecological as well as health risks and behaviour of contaminants at the case study sites.
- New geochemical and isotope methods for investigation and prediction of long-term impacts of contaminant migration
- Utility of new online water quality monitoring methods
- Hydrogeochemical modelling tools
- Environmental risk assessment methods
Expected results
Testing of new geochemical and isotope methods carried out in this research is useful tool for investigation and monitoring of migration of harmful substances from mine waste areas. With the risk assessment and better knowledge of geochemical characters of the contaminants in wastes and mine waters, the mining companies are able to predict and to prevent the impacts to the surrounding environment. This complex approach will also allow a detailed insight in the generation of acid waters, their underground flow paths, and the migration of harmful substances in the environment.
