Impacto ambiental de la minería en el devenir histórico de la comarca de Río Tinto (Huelva)

Abstract

As a consequence of the large mining operations occurred at Rio Tinto area (SW Spain) since prehistoric times, forests were demolished, rivers were polluted by heavy metals, sulphates and suspended particles, air was polluted by So2 producing acid rains and human health problems, wastes (slags, pyrite ashes, and other leaching materials) were storaged as great mountains, and landscape turned wilderness and inhospitable with many abandoned mining factories and ghost villages. Today, environmental problems derived from this old situation and present activities are a challenge for the Administration, ecologists and society, since the Rio Tinto area is the most contamined of Spain