Groundwater hydrochemistry and soil pollution in a catchment affected by an abandoned lead–zinc mine: functioning of a diffuse pollution source

Abstract

The importance of polluted alluvial soils as a potential diffuse source of heavy metals was investigated in a catchment of the Matylda stream affected by an abandoned lead and zinc ore mine in Upper Silesia, southern Poland. This was attempted by means of standard groundwater analyses performed together with measurements of Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe and Mn concentrations in soil and groundwater. The Matylda stream, receiving mine water, was converted in the 20th century into a straight channel directed in its middle reach over the valley bottom. This changed the drainage direction of the Matylda stream water. During mining operations, groundwater seepage, combined with surface drainage by shallow ditches caused pollution of sandy soils exceeding over 100 mg/kg of Cd, 24% of Zn and 4% of Pb at surface or subsurface soil horizons, and reaching at least 60 cm in depth. After mine closure in the 1970s, the network of ditches appears to be a source of Ca, Mg, chlorides, carbonates and nitrates, as indicated by the more or less regular increase of these major ion concentrations in groundwater down ditches. Whereas, the ditches are a sink rather than a source of zinc, cadmium and lead in permanently dry reaches, or transition zones in reaches with surface water flowing periodically. The metal concentrations and distribution in soil and groundwater suggest the slow mobilization of heavy metals stored in the valley bottom and the minor importance of soil as a diffuse source for surface water pollution.