Toxicity in semiarid sediments influenced by tailings of an abandoned gold mine

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 187; no. 1; pp. 4158 - 8
• Main Authors: Sobrino-Figueroa, A. S., Becerra-Rueda, O. F., Magallanes-Ordóñez, V. R., Sánchez-González, A., Marmolejo-Rodríguez, A. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-01-2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abandoned mines; Algae; Animals; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bioassays; Biological Assay; Biota; Chlorophyta; Daphnia; Daphnia magna; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Gold; Mine tailings; Mine wastes; Mining; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Mortality; Organisms; Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata; Sediments; Selenastrum capricornutum; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - toxicity; Test organisms; Toxicity; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Arsenic; Heavy metals; Sediment
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-014-4158-y

The mining district of El Triunfo (ET-MD) has an estimated 800,000 t of mine wastes scattered in the environment, contaminating the sediment with potentially toxic elements such as As, Cd, Pb, and Zn. In order to estimate the toxicity of the sediment to the adjacent biota, the aims of our study are to calculate the mortality and inhibition through bioassays, using sediment, and test organisms such as
Daphnia magna
and
Selenastrum capricornutum
(
Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata
), respectively. The
D. magna
mortality was 31 ± 12 % and the
S. capricornutum
growth inhibition was 53 ± 24 %. The contamination of the sediment determines the high mortality of
D. magna
and the high inhibition of
S. capricornutum
in the system, indicating risk for the biota in the contaminated system.