TY - JOUR
T1 - The strontium isotope fingerprint of phosphate rocks mining
AU - Vengosh, Avner
AU - Wang, Zhen
AU - Williams, Gordon
AU - Hill, Robert
AU - M. Coyte, Rachel
AU - Dwyer, Gary S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Avner Vengosh reports financial support was provided by Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd. Avner Vengosh reports a relationship with Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd. that includes: consulting or advisory.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge that Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd. paid Duke University for the analytical measurements conducted in this study and that Avner Vengosh was temporarily hired as a consultant by Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd. to evaluate the water quality data of this study. We the reviewers and Editor for a thorough and prompt review.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - High concentrations of metal(loid)s in phosphate rocks and wastewater associated with phosphate mining and fertilizer production operations pose potential contamination risks to water resources. Here, we propose using Sr isotopes as a tracer to determine possible water quality impacts induced from phosphate mining and fertilizers production. We utilized a regional case study in the northeastern Negev in Israel, where salinization of groundwater and a spring have been attributed to historic leaking and contamination from an upstream phosphate mining wastewater. This study presents a comprehensive dataset of major and trace elements, combined with Sr isotope analyses of the Rotem phosphate rocks, local aquifer carbonate rocks, wastewater from phosphate operation in Mishor Rotem Industries, saline groundwater suspected to be impacted by Rotem mining activities, and two types of background groundwater from the local Judea Group aquifer. The results of this study indicate that trace elements that are enriched in phosphate wastewater were ubiquitously present in the regional and non-contaminated groundwater at the same levels as detected in the impacted waters, and thus cannot be explicitly linked to the phosphate wastewater. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of phosphate rocks (0.707794 ± 5 × 10−5) from Mishor Rotem Industries were identical to that of associated wastewater (0.707789 ± 3 × 10−5), indicating that the Sr isotopic fingerprint of phosphate rocks is preserved in its wastewater. The 87Sr/86Sr (0.707949 ± 3 × 10−6) of the impacted saline groundwater were significantly different from those of the Rotem wastewater and the background saline groundwater, excluding phosphate mining effluents as the major source for contamination of the aquifer. Instead, the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of the impacted water was similar to the composition of brines from the Dead Sea, which suggests that the salinization was derived primarily from industrial Dead Sea effluents with distinctive Sr isotope and geochemical fingerprints.
AB - High concentrations of metal(loid)s in phosphate rocks and wastewater associated with phosphate mining and fertilizer production operations pose potential contamination risks to water resources. Here, we propose using Sr isotopes as a tracer to determine possible water quality impacts induced from phosphate mining and fertilizers production. We utilized a regional case study in the northeastern Negev in Israel, where salinization of groundwater and a spring have been attributed to historic leaking and contamination from an upstream phosphate mining wastewater. This study presents a comprehensive dataset of major and trace elements, combined with Sr isotope analyses of the Rotem phosphate rocks, local aquifer carbonate rocks, wastewater from phosphate operation in Mishor Rotem Industries, saline groundwater suspected to be impacted by Rotem mining activities, and two types of background groundwater from the local Judea Group aquifer. The results of this study indicate that trace elements that are enriched in phosphate wastewater were ubiquitously present in the regional and non-contaminated groundwater at the same levels as detected in the impacted waters, and thus cannot be explicitly linked to the phosphate wastewater. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of phosphate rocks (0.707794 ± 5 × 10−5) from Mishor Rotem Industries were identical to that of associated wastewater (0.707789 ± 3 × 10−5), indicating that the Sr isotopic fingerprint of phosphate rocks is preserved in its wastewater. The 87Sr/86Sr (0.707949 ± 3 × 10−6) of the impacted saline groundwater were significantly different from those of the Rotem wastewater and the background saline groundwater, excluding phosphate mining effluents as the major source for contamination of the aquifer. Instead, the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of the impacted water was similar to the composition of brines from the Dead Sea, which suggests that the salinization was derived primarily from industrial Dead Sea effluents with distinctive Sr isotope and geochemical fingerprints.
KW - Isotope tracers
KW - Metals
KW - Phosphate mining
KW - Water contamination
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135926976&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157971
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157971
M3 - Article
C2 - 35963401
AN - SCOPUS:85135926976
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 850
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 157971
ER -
