Contaminant migration in a sand aquifer near an inactive uranium tailings impoundment, Elliot Lake, Ontario

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Morin ◽  
J. A. Cherry ◽  
T. P. LIM ◽  
A. J. Vivyurka
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Iron Hydroxide ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Outer Zone ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Contaminant Plume ◽  
Tailings Impoundment ◽  
Sand Aquifer ◽  
Uranium Tailings

An investigation of the movement of contaminated groundwater from inactive uranium tailings through a sand aquifer is being conducted at the Nordic Main tailings impoundment near Elliot Lake, Ontario. During 1979 and 1980, multilevel bundle-type piezometers were installed at several locations around the edge of the tailings impoundment. Chemical analysis of water samples from the bundle piezometers indicate that a major contaminant plume extends outward through a sand aquifer from the southeastern part of the Nordic Main impoundment dam.In the vicinity of the contaminant plume, the sand aquifer varies in thickness from about 9 to 15 m. The plume has two distinct segments, referred to as the inner core and the outer zone. The inner core, which has a pH of 4.3–5.0 and extends about 15 m from the foot of the tailings dam, contains several grams per litre of iron and sulfate, and tens of pCi/L of 226Ra and 210Pb. Water levels in piezometers within the inner core show that groundwater is moving horizontally, away from the tailings impoundment, with a velocity of up to several hundred metres per year. The outer zone, which extends a few hundred metres downgradient from the dam, is characterized by hundreds to thousands of milligrams per litre of iron and sulfate, less than 15 pCi/L of 226Ra, and a pH greater than 5.7. Comparison of 1979 and 1980 data shows that the front of the inner core is advancing a few metres per year, which is less than a few percent of the groundwater velocity. This retardation of movement of the inner core is caused by neutralization of the acidic water as a result of dissolution of calcium carbonate in the sand. With the rise in pH, precipitation of iron carbonate and possibly some iron hydroxide occurs and the contaminants of main concern such as 226Ra, 210Pb, and uranium are removed from solution by adsorption or coprecipitation.

Uranium Tailings Acidification and Subsurface Contaminant Migration in a Sand Aquifer

1984 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.M. Dubrovsky ◽  
K.A. Morin ◽  
J.A. Cherry ◽  
D.J.A. Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Vadose Zone ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Pyrite Oxidation ◽  
Outer Zone ◽  
Low Ph ◽  
Small Stream ◽  
Sand Aquifer ◽  
Uranium Tailings ◽  
Stream Bed

Abstract Investigations of the geochemistry of inactive pyritic uranium tailings in the Elliot Lake Mining district of Ontario have focused on the Nordic tailings management area, where two impoundments are located in natural bedrock basins. The tailings are 8-12 m thick and overlie a localized deposit of glaciofluvial sands. Analyses of the solid, liquid, and gas phases in the vadose zone of the tailings show that gas-phase oxygen levels drop rapidly within 0.7 to 1.5 m of the surface, indicating rapid oxygen consumption during pyrite oxidation. Oxidation during the past 15 to 20 years has caused a marked depletion of near-surface pyrite. The oxidation of pyrite in the vadose zone imparts to infiltrating precipitation high concentrations of Fe, SO42-, various heavy metals, and a pH generally between 1.5 and 4. The acidic infiltration moves downward at a rate of 0.2 to 2.0 m/yr, displacing high-pH groundwater that originated as process water discharged from the mill. It now occupies the entire tailings thickness over a small area of the tailings. At one location a well-defined plume of high-Fe2+ tailings-derived groundwater has developed in the sand aquifer adjacent to the tailings. The plume consists of three zones: an inner core characterized by Fe > 5000 mg/L, pH < 4.8, and elevated concentrations of several heavy metals and radionuclides; an outer zone with Fe < 2500 mg/L, pH > 5.5, and relatively low concentrations of heavy metals and radionuclides; and a transition zone separating the two. Although the average linear groundwater velocity is about 440 m/yr near the dam, reactions such as mineral dissolution, precipitation and coprecipitation retard the migration of the front of the inner core, producing an observed frontal migration rate of approximately 1 m/yr. Groundwater from the outer zone of the plume flows laterally towards a small stream, where a portion of it is now discharging into the stream bed. The discharge results in the precipitation of amorphous ferric hydroxide on the stream bed. Most of the H+ produced by Fe precipitation is buffered, and only a moderate decrease in stream pH is observed. Inner zone conditions will not reach the stream unless input of low-pH groundwater from the tailings continues for several hundred years. Although the rate of pyrite oxidation in the Nordic Main tailings has been decreasing, there is sufficient pyrite in the tailings to generate high-Fe groundwater for several decades or more. Calculated groundwater migration rates indicate that in the next few decades acidic, low-pH groundwater will occupy the entire tailings thickness over most of the tailings area, causing an increase in the total flux of contaminated groundwater into the underlying aquifer. The outer zone of the plume has already arrived at a small stream, and acidification of the surface waters may increase if the Fe concentration in the groundwater seepage increases.

Numerical Simulation of Radon Atmospheric Dynamic Diffusion from a Flat Ground Uranium Tailings Impoundment

2013 ◽  
Vol 807-809 ◽  
pp. 628-631
Author(s):  
Xiao Yong Peng ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Shuai Huang ◽  
Xu Sheng Chai ◽  
Lan Xia Guo
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Mass Fraction ◽  
Space Distribution ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Tailings Impoundment ◽  
Diffusion Characteristics ◽  
Atmospheric Dynamic ◽  
Uranium Tailings ◽  
Dynamic Diffusion ◽  
Flat Ground

with a flat ground uranium tailings impoundment as the object of the paper, CFD technology was used to study the atmospheric dynamic diffusion characteristics and the evolution of time and space distribution of radon in the uranium tailings impoundment. Results show that, within 1500m range of the leeward of uranium tailings impoundment the falling gradient of radon mass fraction improves with distance increases at the same moment, however the falling gradient flattens with the increase of time gradually; During the first 30 minutes, the radon mass fraction of tailings impoundment in the leeward direction has a larger growth gradient, then flattens out slowly, and stabilizes after 75 minutes.

Impact of Oligotrophication, Temperature, and Water Levels on Walleye Habitat in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario

2004 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 868-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chu ◽  
C. K. Minns ◽  
J. E. Moore ◽  
E. S. Millard
Keyword(s):  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Water Levels

A message from the depth: the origin of the amphibole crystal clots with pyroxene cores in the Late Pleistocene Ciomadul dacites, Romania

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Cserép ◽  
Zoltán Kovács ◽  
Kristóf Fehér ◽  
Szabolcs Harangi
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Magma Mixing ◽  
Outer Part ◽  
Mafic Magma ◽  
Outer Zone ◽  
Magma Reservoir ◽  
Explosive Eruptions ◽  
Innovation Fund ◽  
Amphibole Crystal ◽  
Crustal Magma

<p>Identification of trans-crustal magma reservoir processes beneath volcanoes is a crucial task to better understand the behaviour and possible future activities of volcanic systems. Detailed petrological investigations have a fundamental role in such studies. Dacitic magmas are usually formed in an upper crustal magma reservoir by complex open-system processes including crystal fractionation and magma mixing following recharge events. Conditions of such processes are usually constrained by crystal-scale studies, whereas there is much less information about the petrogenetic processes occurring in the lower crustal hot zone. Here we provide insight into such processes by new results on amphibole crystal clots found in dacitic pumices from an explosive volcanic suite of the Ciomadul volcano, the youngest one in eastern-central Europe.</p><p>Amphibole is a common mineral phase of the Ciomadul dacites, occuring as phenocrysts and antecrysts, but occasionally they also form crystal clots with an inner core of either pyroxene or olivine with high Mg-numbers. Olivine is observed mostly in the 160-130 ka lava dome rocks, whereas the younger explosive eruption products are characterised by orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene. Such mafic crystal clots are most common in the pumices of the earliest explosive eruptions, which occurred after long quiescence at 56-45 ka. The most common appearance has high-Mg pyroxene core (mg#: 0.76-0.92) rimmed by amphibole. Two types of amphibole are found in such clots: irregular zone of actinolite to magnesio-hornblende directly around orthopyroxene and high Mg-Al pargasitic amphibole as the outer zone. Several crystal clots contain smaller amphibole crystals with diffuse transition to clinopyroxene at the inner part and complexly zoned amphibole with biotite inclusions in the outer part. These amphibole and pyroxene have lower Mg-number (< 0.80), and higher MnO content (up to 0.52 wt%) than the most common type. In both cases, amphibole could be a peritectic product of earlier-formed pyroxenes, which reacted with water-rich melt at higher and lower temperatures, respectively. Actinolite to magnesio-hornblende at the contact represents a transitional phase between pyroxene and the newly formed amphibole. In a few cases, crystal clots contain amphibole inclusions in pyroxene macrocrysts. These amphiboles have a particular composition not yet reproduced by experiments: they have high mg# (>0.86), but low tetrahedral Al (0.9-1.0 apfu) and usually high Cr content (Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> is up to 0.9 wt%), similar to the orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene hosts (0.26-0.71 and 0.78-0.89 wt%, respectively). We interpret these amphiboles as an early formed liquidus phase crystallized along with pyroxene from an ultra-hydrous mafic magma. Occasionally, crystal clots are complexly zoned amphibole macrocrysts with dispersed clinopyroxene inclusions. The amphibole has a wide compositional range, usually with high Mg-Al pargasitic core. These amphiboles could have formed by peritectic reaction between clinopyroxene and a water-rich melt.</p><p>The observed mafic crystal clots in the dacites indicate the presence of strongly hydrous mafic magmas accumulated probably at the crust-mantle boundary. During mafic recharge, volatile transfer may contribute to the crystal mush rejuvenation at shallow depth and triggering explosive eruptions.</p><p>This research was financed by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (NKFIH) within K135179 project.</p>

scholarly journals Geological framework of the Laurentian trough aquifer system, southern Ontario

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 677-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Sharpe ◽  
André J.-M. Pugin ◽  
Hazen A.J. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Oak Ridges Moraine ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Niagara Escarpment ◽  
Base Level ◽  
Glacial Periods ◽  
East West

The Laurentian trough (LT), a depression >100 km long, >3000 km2 in area, and 100 m deep at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, extends from within Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. It has a complex erosional history and is filled and buried by up to 200 m of interglacial and glacial sediment. The primary depression fronts a cuesta landscape and is attributed to differential erosion by fluvial, glacial, and glaciofluvial processes, exposing Ordovician rocks along the Canadian Shield margin. The fill succession includes sediments from the last two glacial periods (Illinoian, Wisconsinan) and the intervening interglacial time (Sangamonian), a poorly dated succession with at least three regional unconformities. A subaerial (interglacial, Don Formation) unconformity relates to low base level mainly preserved in lows of the LT, succeeded by a long period of rising water levels and glaciolacustrine conditions as ice advanced into the Lake Ontario basin. A second unconformity, within the Thorncliffe Formation, is the result of rapid channel erosion to bedrock, forming an ∼north–south network filled with coarse-grained glaciofluvial, transitional to fine-grained glaciolacustrine subaqueous fan sediment. The overlying drumlinized Newmarket Till, up to 50 m thick, is a distinct regional unit with a planar to undulating base. A third unconformity event eroded Newmarket Till, locally truncating it and underlying sediment to bedrock. Three younger sediment packages, Oak Ridges Moraine (channel and ridge sediment), Halton, and glaciolacustrine overlie this erosion surface. Significant regional aquifers are hosted within the LT. Upper Thorncliffe Formation sediments, north–south glaciofluvial channel–fan aquifers, are protected by overlying mud and Newmarket Till aquitards. Similarly, Oak Ridges Moraine sediments comprise a north–south array of glaciofluvial channel–fans and east–west fan aquifers, locally covered by silt–clay rhythmite and till aquitards.

Wetland vegetation response to record-high Lake Ontario water levels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Smith ◽  
Giuseppe E. Fiorino ◽  
Greg P. Grabas ◽  
Douglas A. Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Wetland Vegetation ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Vegetation Response

Some implications of crustal movement in engineering planning

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 628-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Clark ◽  
N. P. Persoage
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Crustal Movement ◽  
Earth’S Crust ◽  
Lake Huron ◽  
Great Lakes Basin ◽  
Lake Outlet ◽  
Earth's Crust ◽  
Bodies Of Water

Movements of the earth's crust causing progressive changes in the levels of large bodies of water relative to their shorelines may influence the formulation of water resource projects and/or their continuing effectiveness with time. In the Great Lakes basin there is evidence of an uplift of the earth's crust, of about 1 ft per 100 y, in the northeasterly part of the basin relative to that in the southwest. This results in a corresponding lowering of water levels along the northeasterly shorelines and a rise in water levels along the southwest shores. In at least two of the lakes, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, the average depth of water will change with time. In Lake Huron, it will gradually decrease because the bed underlying the lake is rising with respect to the lake outlet. In Lake Ontario, the depth of water will increase since the lake outlet is rising with respect to the remainder of the lake. This paper reviews some of the engineering implications of the relative rates of crustal movement in the Great Lakes region on long-term management of the water levels of the Great Lakes.

Submerged Macrophytes in Lake Ontario: Current Knowledge, Importance, Threats to Stability, and Needed Studies

1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1539-1545 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Crowder ◽  
D. S. Painter
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Nutrient Cycling ◽  
Cyprinus Carpio ◽  
Submerged Macrophytes ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Carp Cyprinus Carpio ◽  
Nursery Habitats ◽  
High Concentrations

The submerged limnetic community in Lake Ontario includes algae, bryophytes, and about 30 species of angiosperms. Their distribution is accurately known in some areas but not lake-wide, and a whole-lake survey is recommended. In nutrient cycling, submergents act as sinks during the summer; metals and metalloids occur in high concentrations in tissues from some areas. Known herbivores include invertebrates, fish, and waterfowl. Stands are necessary for many fish taxa as breeding or nursery habitats, and for waterfowl, but may be damaged by carp (Cyprinus carpio). Stability has been affected by water levels, sedimentation, wave and ice movement, invasive species, herbivory, eutrophication and turbidity, and contaminants. Recovery after control of P loading has occurred in Irondequoit Bay but is delayed by turbidity in the Bay of Quinte.

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