Simulation of Contaminants Transport in Groundwater From Nickel Mining Waste Dump Southeast Sulawesi

The irregularities of nickel resource mining in Indonesia cause many serious environmental problems. Piles of leftover rocks on nickel mining waste dumps have the potential to be a source of heavy metal seepage into the water. This study was conducted to assess the impact of nickel mining in the Langgikima Subdistrict of the North Konawe Regency of Southeast Sulawesi Province. The focus is to assess the migration of hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) and iron (Fe) using MT3DMS to model the transport of solutes. The study's goal was to identify cr6+ and Fe concentrations in waste dumps and predict the spread of contaminants over a 20-year period of time. XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) is done to determine the content of elements and minerals in rocks. Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) is performed to estimate the concentration of Cr6+ and Fe in waste dumps. AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer) to find out the content of Cr6+ and Fe in surface water and land water samples. The results showed the highest concentrations of Cr6+ of 0.0462 mg/L and Feat 0.8709 mg/L. Simulations without compacted clay coatings, Cr6+ and Fe contaminants could be transported consecutively by 2.7 km and 2.42 km while simulations used compacted clay layers with a hydraulic conductivity of 1 × 10−9 m/s of Cr6+ and Fe contaminants could be transported consecutively by 0.412 km and 0.467 km. It can therefore be concluded that heavy metals in the remaining rock piles from the waste dump can be transported into groundwater, and the action of using a compacted layer of clay must be taken to prevent contaminant migration into groundwater.

Mapping coal fires using Normalized Difference Coal Fire Index (NDCFI): case study at Khanh Hoa coal mine, Vietnam

Khanh Hoa coal mine (Thai Nguyen province) is one of the largest coal mines in the north of Vietnam. For many years, this area suffered from underground fires at coal mine waste dumps, seriously affecting production activities and the environment. This paper presents the results of classification of underground fire areas at Khanh Hoa coal mine using Normalized Diference Coal Fire Index (NDCFI). 03 Landsat 8 OLI_TIRS images taken on December 2, 2013, December 10, 2016, and December 3, 2019 were used to calculate NDCFI index, and then classify the underground fire areas by thresholding method. In the study, the land surface temperature was also calculated from Landsat 8 thermal infrared bands data, and then compared with the results of underground coal fire classification at Khanh Hoa coal mine. The obtained results showed that the NDCFI index can be used effectively in detecting and monitoring underground fire areas at coal mines. The use of the NDCFI index also has many advantages due to its calculation simplicity and rapidness compared to other methods for classifying underground coal fire areas.

The Status of Abiotic Components in Aquatic Environment of Khaste Lake, Pokhara

Water is one of the most significant natural resources. In plants and animals, different physiological processes like respiration, photosynthesis, absorption of nutrients and other metabolic process get influenced by the amount of availability of water. This study has been conducted to evaluate water quality of Khaste Lake, Pokhara. After the collection of water samples, chemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen (DO), free carbon dioxide (F-CO2), hydrogen ion concentration (pH), total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), total solid (TS), total dissolved solid (TDS), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and chloride ions (Cl-) have been measured in the chemistry laboratory, using standard methods prescribed by American Public Health Association (APHA, 1999) whereas the depth, transparency and temperature have been measured on the spot. The obtained values of physico-chemical parameters have been compared with the criteria of World Health Organization (WHO) and other lakes. The research reveals that all the abiotic components of the Khaste Lake meet the WHO standard of water quality. This research work concludes that the water quality of Khaste Lake is much less polluted and suitable for all the aquatic lives so far. Discharge of domestic sewage, use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture fields and other solid waste dumps can be the major threats for sustainability of the lakes. Awareness to the public and continual management need to be done to prevent the possibility of pollution and eutrophication process.

Characterisation of the Dynamics of Leachate Contamination Plumes in the Surrounding of the Hulene - B Waste Dump, Maputo, Mozambique

The contamination of areas around solid urban waste dumps is a global challenge for the maintenance of environmental quality in large urban centres in developing countries. This study applied geophysical methods (electrical resistivity) to identify leachate contamina-tion plumes in the subsoil and groundwater, as well as to describe their temporal (2020 and 2021) dynamics in the lithology and groundwater around the Hulene - B waste dump, Maputo, Mozambique. Geophysical methods (electrical resistivity) were applied to identify possible groundwater contamination plumes, their dynamics, mechanisms of their enrichment and dispersion. Eight 400 m electrical resistivity profiles were performed, four profiles in January 2020 and four profiles in May 2021, overlapped, and the data were inverted with RES2D software. The electrical resistivity models indicate an E - W move-ment of large contamination plumes that dilute superficially into the natural surface wa-ter receiving basin and groundwater, creating zones of resistive anomalies. The thickness of the plumes in the subsurface environment was shown to be extensive in summer for profiles 1a and 2b and we associate it with the higher leachate production and migration mechanisms, which are intense in the hot and rainy season. Profile 4b showed the prop-agation of anomalous surface and subsurface areas, which was associated with higher leachate production and migration process in the new deposition zone (west). The spatial distribution of contamination plumes at both stations reduced significantly as we moved further away from the waste deposit, revealing the attenuating effect of groundwater and lithological substrate (Profile 3 a, b, and fig.7).

Successive processes at quarry waste dumps of various ages

This work is dedicated to the study of the succession processes in quarries of different ages in the territory of the Russian Federation and neighbouring countries, namely, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In selected soil samples from the areas studied, certain physical and chemical properties, the quantitative composition of microbial communities and the diversity of floral species from the quarries were studied. The pH values for the Kuzbass area were found to decrease to 4.8, and in the area of the younger quarries – Inguletsky and Sokolovsky – higher pH values were recorded. The basal soil respiration rate of the Kuzbass quarry was approximately 0.2 mg CO2/g/h. The CO2 carbonate content ranged from 0.05% to 0.6%. The microbial biomass in Kuzbass soil was from 0.87 to 5.10 μg C/g soil, while its quantity in other quarries was 6 times lower, which is associated with the relatively young age of these sites. The study of the diversity of floral species in the Kuznetsk coalfield identified 120 species of upper plants belonging to 34 families. Among them, cereals, legumes and mosses, lichens and algae were predominant. In the territory of Inguletsky and Sokolovsky quarries, the diversity of plant species was much poorer. In this regard, further research will focus on increasing the rate of succession and maintaining ecosystem stability by increasing the share of microorganisms. Also, the study of the possibility to accelerate the restoration of younger flora in the discharges of age careers at the expense of the mycorrhizal communities formation is of high relevance.

An Introduction to the HLanData Project: a Step Forward in the Harmonization of Spatial Information Throughout Europe

Nowadays spatial information is becoming more and more accessible for various purposes due to local, national and European initiatives. This paper is addressed to one such initiative Hlandata, whose purpose is to make a significant step forward in the harmonization and use of land cover (LC) and land use (LU) geographic data and its related data bases over Europe. The project was developed using the best experiences from previous geographic data harmonization activities with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of European level harmonization of land information related datasets. The three pilot projects “LU-LC Data Analysis System for intermediatelevel users”, “Harmonized and Interoperable Land Information Systems” and “Stratification of Waste Dumps” were developed and tested within the project and demonstrated advantages from user oriented value-added services emphasizing data search, exploration and analysis.

Learning to Identify Illegal Landfills through Scene Classification in Aerial Images

Illegal landfills are uncontrolled disposals of waste that cause severe environmental and health risk. Discovering them as early as possible is of prominent importance for preventing hazards, such as fire pollution and leakage. Before the digital era, the only means to detect illegal waste dumps was the on site inspection of potentially suspicious sites, a procedure extremely costly and impossible to scale to a vast territory. With the advent of Earth observation technology, scanning the territory via aerial images has become possible. However, manual image interpretation remains a complex and time-consuming task that requires expert skill. Photo interpretation can be partially automated by embedding the expert knowledge within a data driven classifier trained with samples provided by human annotators. In this paper, the detection of illegal landfills is formulated as a multi-scale scene classification problem. Scene elements positioning and spatial relations constitute hints of the presence of illegal waste dumps. A dataset of ≈3000 images (20 cm resolution per pixel) was created with the help of expert photo interpreters. A combination of ResNet50 and Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) elements accounting for different object scales achieves 88% precision with an 87% of recall in a test area. The results proved the feasibility of applying convolutional neural networks for scene classification in this scenario to optimize the process of waste dumps detection.

Plants Bravely Fighting Metals

Silesia, i.e. the region of Poland which roughly dozen years ago was the most powerful industrial center in the country, is still struggling with residues of heavy metals, which are still present in the soil, water, mine waste dumps, and in the air – despite the fact that the number of polluting plants has been reduced and the use of appropriate filters, measures that have admittedly limited the emission of harmful substances into the environment, has been made obligatory. Metals will not disappear on their own; they are assimilated by plants, which animals feed on, and thus the “uninvited guests” are passed on. Humans are not spared by metals as well. The bare post-mining and post-production landfills around which housing estates are erected “endow” their residents with toxic dust. It turns out, however, that there are plant species which attach themselves to polluted areas and only exist where the concentration of heavy metals is high.

Study of Solid Waste Management in the Buildings Area of Integrated Campus of Universitas Islam Indonesia

One of the problems that are faced by the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) is the amount of solid waste generated each year, add the increasing number of the student each year, then the problem becomes much worse and difficult to handle. Regarding it, the awareness of each student about solid waste management is needed. The 2 main purpose of this study is first to determine the composition and the generation of solid waste using the samples taken from 10 temporary solid waste dumps (FPSB, D3 Economics, FMIPA, FTI, FIAI, FTSP, FK, Central Library, Kahar Muzakir, GKU, and Rectorate) and the second is to identify student’s perceptions and behavior about individual solid waste management. The research was conducted using qualitative and quantitative descriptive approaches. The results show that the average amount of solid waste generated is 0.017 kg/person/day this is in line with the solid waste management record that shows that on daily basis each person produces approximately 0.010 - 0.020 kg. While the study about the students’ perceptions and behavior towards solid waste management shows that while most of the students are aware of it, the implementation is still lacking.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination in coal mines and the need for extensive prediction and remediation: a review

Globally, the major source of environmental pollution as a result of mineral exploitation and processing is acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD refers to outflowing streams of acidic constituents from pyrite-bearing ore mines. The exposure of pyrite (FeS2) in coal waste dumps to atmospheric oxygen and water in the presence of microbial communities promotes the formation of sulphuric acid which leaches out the inherent heavy metals into the mine discharge, a phenomenon called pyrite oxidation. AMDs are usually characterized by a convoy of toxic heavy metals, most of which are transition elements (copper, nickel, zinc, etc.) and arsenic at concentrations higher than the limits permitted by environmental regulations. The impact of this acidic discharge from coal mines on downstream/underground waters and farm lands within the corresponding mining zones have been severally reported by previous researchers, but not so much have been discussed on extensive prediction and remediation. It is in view of this that the current paper reviews the need for extensive prediction and remediation approach for coal mines under the following subheadings; General introduction, AMD sources identification, representative sampling, adoption of a prediction model, determination of AMD potential and quality via static and kinetic tests and the development of an economically sustainable remediation strategy. It is thought that this article would be useful to academia as well as policy makers that are responsible for the development and implementation of environmental regulations in coal mines.