Assessment of Soil and Water Contamination at the Tab-Simco Coal Mine: A Case Study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2017

Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. In 1996, the Tab-Simco site, an abandoned coal mine 10 km southeast of Carbondale, Illinois, was listed as one of the most highly contaminated AMD sites in the mid-continent region. A suite of impacted soil and water samples were collected from various locations to characterize the current extent of AMD pollution, following standard U.S. EPA protocols. The mean pH of soil and water samples were found to be 2.69 and 2.07, respectively. The mean sulfur content of the soil samples was 0.5 %. The AMD-impacted soils contained high concentrations of Fe, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cu, Pb, and As. The AMD also contained high concentrations of Fe, As, Zn, Pb, Cr, Al, Cd, Cu, and Ni, as well as SO42-, all of which were significantly above their U.S. EPA permissible limits for surface water.

Publication Title

Mine Water and the Environment

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