Contamination of the Xiropotamos stream sediments (Drama district, Western Rhodope massif, Northern Greece) by mining and manganese ore processing activities

An extensive exploitation of Mn-ore took place during the period 1950 to 1994 in the Drama district, Northern Greece. Mining and ore processing has created a vast amount of wastes including tailings, low grade ore and heaps of concentrated ore, which were deposited around the central establishment of Kato Nevrokopi. A long time transportation of these wastes by fluvial processes has affected the Xiropotamos stream sediments by a serious contamination with some toxic heavy metals. X-ray powder diffraction, optical microscopy, SEM and EPMA studies of the Xiropotamos stream sediments showed that quartz, calcite, micas and feldspars are the prevailing gangue minerals, while goethite and the Mn- oxide minerals todorokite, pyrolusite, birnessite and coronadite are the widely present opaques. Bulk chemical analyses of the sediments revealed the following average contents for some heavy metals: Mn — 131863, Zn — 3302, Pb — 1612, Ba — 542, Cu — 158, Sr — 991, and Ni — 74 (all values in ppm). These values significantly exceed the average soil composition world- wide, and some of them the international safety standards for soils. Specifically, the concentrations of Mn, Pb, Zn, and partly of Cu are far in excess of the stipulated phytotoxic levels. Electron probe microanalyses of the Mn-minerals revealed metal contents, as high as: 33.34 wt.% PbO, 4.28 wt.% ZnO, and 1.99 wt.% CuO in coronadite, 14.61 wt.% ZnO in birnes-

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