Acid mine drainage and smelter-derived sources affecting water geochemistry in the upper Nakdong River, South Korea

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163353
• Publication Date: 2023-04-05T17:07:59Z
• Authors: Youn-Young Jung; Seung-Hyun Choi; Moojin Choi; Yeon-Sik Bong; Min-Yeong Park; Kwang-Sik Lee; Woo-Jin Shin
• Keywords: Acid Mine Drainage

Both the smelter and acid mine drainage (AMD) in uppermost streams impact water geochemistry deteriorate quality. Efficient quality management requires identifying contribution of each source to stream geochemistry. In this study, we aimed determine natural anthropogenic sources (AMD smelting) affecting by considering seasonality. Water samples were collected, from May 2020 April 2021, a main channel (Nakdong River) tributaries small watershed including mines smelters. The is characterized carbonate-rich area upper-middle reaches silicate-rich middle-lower reaches. On plots Ca/Na vs. Mg/Na 2(Ca + Mg) HCO3 2SO4, was predominantly explained carbonate silicate weathering associated with sulfuric carbonic acids. According typical δ15N values for sources, nitrate soil-N mainly impacted geochemistry, regardless seasonality; agricultural activity sewage negligible. discriminated before after passing through smelter. effects evident elevated SO4, Zn, Tl concentrations δ66Zn values; further supported relationships between Cl/HCO3 SO4/HCO3 Zn. These results pronounced during winter, when flush-out effect absent. Our suggest that multi-isotopes chemical composition analyses can trace multiple influencing watersheds containing AMD