Mercury contamination of active channel sediment and floodplain deposits from historic gold mining at Gold Hill, North Carolina, USA

Environmental Geology

Volumn 55, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 113-121

  Lecce, Scott ^a   Pavlowsky, Robert ^b   Schlomer, Gwenda ^b  

^a EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Contamination; Floodplains; Gold mining; Mercury; Sedimentation

Indexed keywords

ALLOYS; BANKS (BODIES OF WATER); CONTAMINATION; COPPER; COPPER DEPOSITS; COPPER MINES; DEPOSITS; GOLD; GOLD DEPOSITS; GOLD MINES; MERCURY (METAL); METAL RECOVERY; METALS; MINING; ORES; RECOVERY; SEDIMENTATION; SEDIMENTOLOGY; TRACE ELEMENTS;

(+ MOD 2N) OPERATION; (O-SEC.-BUTYLDITHIOCARBONATIO-S ,S') COPPER; ACTIVE CHANNELS; COPPER CONCENTRATIONS; FLOODPLAIN DEPOSITS; FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTATION; FLOODPLAIN SEDIMENTS; GOLD MINING; GOLD PARTICLES; H IGH CONCENTRATIONS; IN CHANNELS; INTENSE (CO); MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS; MERCURY CONTAMINATION; MERCURY(III); MINING ACTIVITIES; MINING DISTRICT; NORTH CAROLINA; NORTH CAROLINA , USA; SPRINGER (CO); TRACE METALS;

MERCURY DEPOSITS;

CHANNEL; CONCENTRATION (COMPOSITION); FLOODPLAIN; GOLD MINE; MERCURY (ELEMENT); MINING; SEDIMENT CORE; SEDIMENT POLLUTION; SEDIMENTATION;

GOLD HILL [NORTH CAROLINA]; NORTH AMERICA; NORTH CAROLINA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 44949253979     PISSN: 09430105     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00254-007-0970-9     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Ambers RKR, Hygelund BN (2001) Contamination of two Oregon reservoirs by cinnabar mining and mercury amalgamation. Environ Geol 40:699-707
2. Beckvar N, Field J, Salazar S, Hoff R (1996) Contaminants in aquatic habitats at hazardous waste sites: Mercury. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORCA 100, Seattle, Hazardous Materials Response and Assessment Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 74 pp
3. Callahan JE, Miller JW, Craig JR (1994) Mercury pollution as a result of gold extraction in North Carolina, U.S.A. Appl Geochem 9:235-241
4. Carpenter PA (1976) Metallic mineral deposits of the Carolina Slate Belt, North Carolina. Bulletin 94, North Carolina Department of Natural and Economic Resources, Raleigh, NC, 166 p
5. Clarkson TW (2002) The three modern faces of mercury. Environ Health Perspect 110(1):11-23
6. Costa JE (1975) Effects of agriculture on erosion and sedimentation in the Piedmont Province, Maryland. Geol Soc Am Bull 86:1281-1286
7. Domagalski J (1998) Occurrence and transport of total mercury and methyl mercury in the Sacramento River Basin, California. J Geochem Explor 64:277-291
8. Emmons E (1856) Geological report of the midland counties of North Carolina. George P. Putnam and Co., NY, 351 p
9. Gee GW, Bauder JW (1986) Particle-size analysis. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 1, 2nd edn. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 383-411
10. Holmes J, Lean D (2006) Factors that influence methylmercury flux rates from wetland sediments. Sci Total Environ 368:306-319
11. Hylander LD, Goodsite ME (2006) Environmental costs of mercury pollution. Sci Total Environ 368:352-370
12. Kimberley MM, Hunsberger G, Brown HS (1984) Effects of pollution, sulfide-deposit weathering and background weathering on the Rocky River drainage basin in North Carolina. Water Resources Institute of the University of North Carolina, Final Report for Project 70017, 55 pp
13. Knapp RF, Glass BD (1999) Gold mining in North Carolina: a bicentennial history. North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC, 192 p
14. Knox JC (1987) Historical valley floor sedimentation in the upper Mississippi Valley. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77:224-244
15. Krabbenhoft DP (2004) Methylmercury contamination of aquatic ecosystems: a widespread problem with many challenges for the chemical sciences. In: Norling P, Wood-Black F, Masciangioli TM (eds) Water and sustainable development opportunities for the chemical sciences-a workshop report to the chemical sciences roundtable. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, pp 19-26
16. Laney FB (1910) The Gold Hill mining district of North Carolina. North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, Bulletin 21. Raleigh, NC
17. Laperdina TG (2002) Estimation of mercury and other heavy metal contamination in traditional gold-mining areas of Transbaikalia. Geochem Explor Environ Anal 2:219-223
18. Lecce SA (1997) Spatial patterns of historical overbank sedimentation and floodplain evolution, Blue River, Wisconsin. Geomorphology 18:265-277
19. Lecce SA, Pavlowsky RT (2001) Use of mining-contaminated sediment tracers to investigate the timing and rates of historical floodplain sedimentation. Geomorphology 38:85-108
20. Leigh DS (1994) Mercury contamination and floodplain sedimentation from former gold mines in North Georgia. Water Resour Bull 30:739-748
21. Leigh DS (1997) Mercury-tainted overbank sediment from past gold mining in north Georgia, U.S.A. Environ Geol 30:244-251
22. Macklin MG (1985) Flood-plain sedimentation in the upper Axe Valley, Mendip, England. Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 10:235-244
23. Miller JR, Lechler PJ, Desilets M (1998) The role of geomorphic processes in the transport and fate of mercury in the Carson River basin, west-central Nevada. Environ Geol 33:249-262
24. Miller JR, Lechler PJ, Bridge G (2003) Mercury contamination of alluvial sediment within the Essequibo and Mazaruni river basins, Guyana. Water Air Soil Pollut 148:139-166
25. Merrens HR (1964) Colonial North Carolina in the eighteenth century. A study in historical geography. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
26. Nitze HBC, Wilkens HAJ (1897) Gold mining in North Carolina and adjacent South Appalachian regions. North Carolina Geological Survey, Bulletin 10, Raleigh
27. Nriagu JO (1994) Mercury pollution from the past mining of gold and silver in the Americas. Sci Total Environ 149:167-181
28. Pardee JT, Park CF (1948) Gold deposits of the Southern Piedmont. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 213, 156 p
29. Powell WS, Lefler HT (1973) Colonial North Carolina: a history. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
30. Reimann C, Caritat P (1998) Chemical elements in the environment: fact sheets for the geochemist and environmental scientist. Springer, Berlin
31. Roulet M, Guimaraes JRD, Lucotte M (2001) Methylmercury production and accumulation in sediments and soils of an Amazonian floodplain-effect of seasonal inundation. Water Air Soil Pollut 128:41-60
32. Stamenkovic J, Gustin MS, marvin-DiPasquale MC, Thomas BA, Agee JL (2004) Distribution of total and methyl mercury in sediments along Steamboat Creek (Nevada, USA). Sci Total Environ 322:167-177
33. Trimble SW, Lund SW (1982) Soil conservation and the reduction of erosion and sedimentation in the Coon Creek Basin, Wisconsin. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1234, 35 pp
34. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) (2003) Mercury research multi-year plan. FY 2005 Planning-final version, May 9, 2003. Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC
35. U.S. Geological Survey (2004) National geochemical survey. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2004-1001
36. Xinmin Z, Kunli L, Xinzhang S, Jian'an T, Yilun L (2006) Mercury in the topsoil and dust of Beijing City. Sci Total Environ 368:713-722