Chemical elements migration in underground waters of mining territory

Abstract

Relevance. The need to study the forms of migration of chemical elements in the groundwater of flooded copper pyrite mines in order to correctly understand and predict their transfer and distribution in hydrogeochemical fields. Ground and surface waters are a complex mixture of substances in which, depending on pH, Eh and t °С, phase transitions are formed with subsequent dissolution or precipitation of minerals. To solve these problems, numerical hydrogeomigration modeling is used, including physicochemical, which allows drawing conclusions about the scale of pollution and the localization of such areas for subsequent development of measures to improve the state of the hydrosphere. Aim. To determine the forms of metal migration in groundwater and to calculate water saturation indices in relation to minerals. Objects. Groundwater in the territory of the closed Levikha copper pyrite mine. Methods. Laboratory studies of groundwater were carried out using flame emission spectrometry, flame atomic absorption, photometric method with Nessler's reagent, titrimetric, mercumetric and potentiometric methods; mass spectrometry with ionization in inductively coupled plasma and gravimetric method. Physical and chemical modeling using the software product Visual MINTEQ 3.1. Results. According to the results of processing chemical analyzes and physical and chemical modeling, all tested wells are divided into groups: 1) wells no. 1, 2, 3 and 6, located within the former mining allotment (near the Levikha XIV mine, a man-made reservoir, the Levikha II mine and a neutralization station); 2) represented by water in wells no. 4 near the shaft of the mine Tsentralnaya and no. 5 near the dump Yuzhny; 3) well no. 7, located near the mouth of the Levikha river. Saturation indices and forms of migration of components in the aquatic environment make it possible to identify the scale of pollution and the localization of such areas. Thus, with the current pumping system, there is no large-scale pollution of groundwater at the Levikha mine. It is localized in the area of the Tsentralny mine shaft (well no. 4) and the Yuzhny dump (well no. 5).