Effects of submarine mine tailings on macrobenthic community structure and ecosystem processes

The Science of the Total Environment
Hilde Cecilie TrannumMorten Schaanning

Abstract

A mesocosm experiment with intact benthic communities was conducted to evaluate the effects of mine tailings on benthic community structure and biogeochemical processes. Two types of tailings were supplied from process plants using flotation and flocculation chemicals, while a third type was absent of added chemicals. All tailings impacted the sediment community at thin layers, and through more mechanisms than merely hypersedimentation. In general, the strongest impact was observed in a very fine-grained tailings containing flotation chemicals. The second strongest occurred in tailings with no process chemicals. The tailings with flocculation chemicals initiated the weakest response. Fluxes of oxygen, nitrate and ammonium provided some indications on biodegradation of organic phases. Release of phosphate and silicate decreased with increasing layer thickness of all three tailings. A threshold level of 2cm was identified both for faunal responses and for fluxes of phosphate and silicate. The particular impact mechanisms should receive more attention in future studies in order to minimize the environmental risk associated with tailings disposal.

References

Mar 13, 2008·Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry·Mathijs G D SmitA Jan Hendriks
Jun 3, 2008·Marine Pollution Bulletin·A B JosefsonP Johansen
Mar 28, 2009·Ecology·J Robin SvenssonHenrik Pavia
Feb 12, 2011·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Rozemarijn KeuningEndre Willassen
May 12, 2015·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Lucy BrooksTormod Glette
Apr 16, 2016·Science·Karen Hudson-Edwards

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Citations

Feb 23, 2019·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·Tor Jensen, Ketil Hylland
Sep 13, 2019·Water Environment Research : a Research Publication of the Water Environment Federation·Alan J MearnsNicolle Rutherford
Dec 2, 2019·The Science of the Total Environment·Hilde C TrannumHege Gundersen
Jun 1, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Cristina GambiRoberto Danovaro

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