Journal
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Volume 280, Issue -, Pages 619-626Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.09.002
Keywords
Dust generator; Respirable dust; Mine tailings; Arsenic; Lead
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P42 ES04940]
- National Science Foundation Bridge [HRD-1249143]
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The particle size distribution of mine tailings material has a major impact on the atmospheric transport of metal and metalloid contaminants by dust. Implications to human health should be assessed through a holistic size-resolved characterization involving multidisciplinary research, which requires large uniform samples of dust that are difficult to collect using conventional atmospheric sampling instruments. To address this limitation, we designed a laboratory dust generation and fractionation system capable of producing several grams of dust from bulk materials. The equipment was utilized in the characterization of tailings deposits from the arsenic and lead-contaminated Iron King Superfund site in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. Results show that metal and metalloid contaminants are more concentrated in particles of <10 mu m aerodynamic diameter, which are likely to affect surrounding communities and ecosystems. In addition, we traced the transport of contaminated particles from the tailings to surrounding soils by identifying Pb and Sr isotopic signatures in soil samples. The equipment and methods developed for this assessment ensure uniform samples for further multidisciplinary studies, thus providing a tool for comprehensive representation of emission sources and associated risks of exposure. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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