Application of organic environmental markers in the assessment of recent and fossil organic matter input in coal wastes and river sediments: A case study from the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (Poland)

Ádám Nádudvari,Leszek Marynowski,Monika J Fabiańska

doi:10.1016/j.coal.2018.07.012

Ádám Nádudvari, Leszek Marynowski + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2018.07.012

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Abstract

Various types of coal waste material (fresh, self-heated, soil-covered) and river sediments polluted by coal dust were studied. Characteristic geochemical features of recent vegetation input in river sediments were identified, e.g. the dominance of n-alkanols and n-alkanoic acids over n-alkanes. In the river sediments, several coal-related compounds were also found, e.g. n-alkylbenzenes, acetophenone and methylated phenols. The occurrence of sterols, stanols, vanillin, and methylbenzoic, benzeneacetic, oxalic, succinic and levulinic acids in coal waste samples (with the exception of fresh coal wastes) may indicate primitive soil-forming processes related to vegetation and moss cover. These compounds were also commonly identified in river sediments. Their distribution, characteristic of extant (as opposed to fossil) organic matter, was confirmed by several applied geochemical ratios, such as the EOP index (even-over-odd predominance) of fatty acids, (Σn-alkanoic acid + Σlong chain n-alkanes)/Σshort chain n-alkanes or (Σn-alkanoic acids + Σn-alkanols)/Σn-alkanes and various CPI (carbon preference indexes of n-alkanes).

Highlights

In Upper Silesia, coal mining has had a significant impact on the original landscape, marring it with hundreds of coal waste dumps
Characteristic polar compounds from the extant OM were identified as dominant in river sediments and coal wastes exposed under air for longer time periods and contaminated by soil
These compounds included α- and β-tocopherol, sterols, stanols, glycerol, pimaric and isopimaric acids, oxalic, succinic, and ursolic acids, and friedelan-3-one. This input from recent vegetation was subsequently confirmed by the applied geochemical ratios which clearly separated young sediments from unaltered coal wastes, e.g. (Σn-alkanoic acids + Σn-alkanols)/Σn-alkanes, (Σn-alkanoic acid + Σlong chain n-alkanes)/Σshort chain n-alkanes, CPI(n-C25-C31), and CPI(n-C24-C34) ratios

Summary

Introduction

In Upper Silesia, coal mining has had a significant impact on the original landscape, marring it with hundreds of coal waste dumps. River sediments (polluted by coal dust and coal ash) and coal waste samples were collected. Biomarkers preserved in both sample types appear to be useful indicators for identification of an organic-matter (OM) origin (Nádudvari and Fabiańska, 2015; Nádudvari et al, 2018). N-fatty acids can serve as useful indicators of OM origin because they are precursors of aliphatic hydrocarbons, which represent some of the main components of petroleum and coal bitumen, which in turn forms via decarboxylation and reduction reactions (Cooper and Bray, 1963; Kawamura and Ishiwatari, 1985; Dong et al, 1993). Typical features of cutin and suberin in higher vascular plants include elevated concentrations of long-chain n-alkanoic acids (n-C22 to n-C32) and nalkanols, with a notable predominance of even chain homologues and the occurrence of certain hydroxy, dicarboxylic, and diterpenoid acids, as well as long-chain (n-C40 to n-C64) saturated alkyl (wax) esters (Gillan and Sandstrom, 1985; Mita et al, 1998; Cooper, 1990)

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