RT Journal Article
T1 Acid mine drainage pollution in the Tinto and Odiel rivers (Iberian Pyrite Belt, SW Spain) and bioavailability of the transported metals to the Huelva Estuary
A1 Nieto Liñán, José Miguel
A1 Miguel Sarmiento, Aguasanta
A1 Olías Álvarez, Manuel
A1 Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
A1 Riba, Inmaculada
A1 Kalman, Judit
A1 DelValls, Tommas Ángel
AB The Tinto and Odiel rivers are seriously affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) from the long-term mining activities in Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). As a consequence, the Huelva estuary is heavily contaminated by metals and metalloids. This study presents an estimation of the seasonal variation, and the dissolved contaminant load transported by both rivers from February 2002 to September 2004. Besides, toxicity and bioaccumulation tests with the sediments of the estuary have been conducted in order to measure the mobility of the toxic metals. Results show that the Tinto and Odiel rivers transport enormous quantities of dissolved metals to the estuary: 7900 t yr−1 of Iron (Fe), 5800 t yr−1 Aluminium (Al), 3500 t yr−1 Zinc (Zn), 1700 t yr−1 Copper (Cu), 1600 t yr−1 Manganese (Mn) and minor quantities of other metals and metalloids. These values represent 37% of the global gross flux of dissolved Zn transported by rivers in to the ocean, and 15% of the global gross flux of dissolved Cu. These metals and metalloids usually sink in the estuarine sediments due to pH and salinity changes. The increase of salinity in the estuary favours the adsorption and trapping of metals. For this reason, the mobility and bioavailability of metals such as Zn, Cd and Cu is higher in sediments located in the area of fresh water influence that in sediments located in the marine influenced area of the estuary, showing a higher percentage of fractionation and bioaccumulation of these metals in the station influenced by the fresh water environment.
PB Elsevier
SN 0160-4120
YR 2006
FD 2006
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22911
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22911
LA eng
NO Nieto, J. M., Sarmiento, A. M., Olías, M., Canovas, C. R., Riba, I., Kalman, J., & Delvalls, T. A. (2007). Acid mine drainage pollution in the Tinto and Odiel rivers (Iberian Pyrite Belt, SW Spain) and bioavailability of the transported metals to the Huelva Estuary. In Environment International (Vol. 33, Issue 4, pp. 445–455). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2006.11.010
NO The authors wish to thank the Environmental Council of the Andalusia Regional Government for the information provided for this study, which has been financed through projects “Evaluation of the contaminant load to the Huelva estuary”, financed by the Environmental Council of the Andalusia Regional Government, and REN2003-09590-C04-03 financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 17 jun 2026