According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), one of the main environmental problems that affect the mining industry It is that of the sites that are abandoned without mediating a soil Loos Loos Restoration Management Plan.
Los potential costs of remediation, the lack of clearly assigned responsibilities (or assumed), the absence of criteria and remediation standards And other factors have meant that many of these sites have been “orphans.”
In fact, Until recently, no measures had been taken to try to evaluate and mitigate the environmental and health impacts that these sites potentially lead. And this was what a group of experts in an abandoned mine of Palencia investigated, discovering that it is possible to take advantage of some vegetables as restorative strategies of the committed environment.
Recovery of contaminated mining soils
The Prospect and Environmental Research Group (ALEDIAM) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, together with the Isyma Group of the University of Oviedohas published an investigation into how the flora is able to survive in contaminated mining soils, with strategies for its restoration.
According to a statement published on Wednesday, it is an investigation published in “Enviromental Geochemistry and Health” about The ecological risk of an ancient mining exploitation of arsenic and copper of northern Spain, abandoned since the mid -twentieth century. It also proposes strategies to restore affected spaces to favor the growth of vegetation.
Those responsible for the investigation have highlighted their relevance in areas where the proximity of the mining liabilities to water resources with use or protected natural spaces can constitute a risk for human populations or ecosystems. He Mining complex contains arsenic and copper concentrations up to a thousand times higher than the levels considered safe for plantsHowever, the researchers observed that in some areas there was still vegetation, although others remained sterile.
Soils contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, cobalt or copper among others
This difference is due to two factors: the pH of the soil and the content of organic matter; In those most acidic and less organic matter areas, plant growth is very complicated. The study analyzed -through an evaluation model known as stelera -27 samples of floor in which there were concentrations of up to 8 toxic elements – arsenic, cadmium, cobalt or copper among others – absorbed by plants.
However The results showed that, although metal and metal concentrations are high, their availability for plants is not always proportionalthat is, essential metals for plant metabolism in small doses are toxic in large quantities.
Therefore, according to research, its effect varies depending on the characteristics of the floor. The work team concludes that LThus ecological risk assessments must integrate local factors such as land acidity or the presence of organic matter to better understand the effects on vegetation. EFE / ECOticias.com