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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences
Mercury Contamination From Hydraulic Placer-Gold Mining In The Dutch Flat Mining District, California, Michael P. Hunerlach, James J. Rytuba, Charles N. Alpers
Mercury Contamination From Hydraulic Placer-Gold Mining In The Dutch Flat Mining District, California, Michael P. Hunerlach, James J. Rytuba, Charles N. Alpers
Publications of the US Geological Survey
Mercury contamination at historic gold mining sites represents a potential risk to human health and the environment. Elemental mercury (quicksilver) was used extensively for the recovery of gold at both placer and hardrock mines throughout the western United States. In placer mine operations, loss of mercury during gold recovery was reported to be as high as 30 percent. In the Dutch Flat mining district located in the Sierra Nevada region of California, placer mines processed more than 100,000,000 cubic yards of gold-bearing gravel. The placer ore was washed through mercury-charged ground sluices and drainage tunnels from 1857 to about 1900, …
Areas Susceptible To Irrigation-Induced Selenium Contamination Of Water And Biota In The Western United States, Ralph L. Seiler, Joseph P. Skorupa, Lorri A. Peltz
Areas Susceptible To Irrigation-Induced Selenium Contamination Of Water And Biota In The Western United States, Ralph L. Seiler, Joseph P. Skorupa, Lorri A. Peltz
Publications of the US Geological Survey
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) studied contamination induced by irrigation drainage in 26 areas of the Western United States during 1986–95. Comprehensive compilation, synthesis, and evaluation of the data resulting from these studies were initiated by DOI in 1992. Soils and ground water in irrigated areas of the West can contain high concentrations of selenium because of (1) residual selenium from the soil’s parent rock beneath irrigated land; (2) selenium derived from rocks in mountains upland from irrigated land by erosion and transport along local drainages, and (3) selenium brought into the area in surface water imported for …