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Geochemical and Biological Aspects of Sulfide Mineral Dissolution: Lessons from Iron Mountain, California

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Geochemical and Biological Aspects of Sulfide Mineral Dissolution: Lessons from Iron Mountain, California Chemical Geology 169Ž. 2000 383±397 www.elsevier.comrlocaterchemgeo Geochemical and biological aspects of sulfide mineral dissolution: lessons from Iron Mountain, California Katrina J. Edwards a,b,), Philip L. Bond a, Greg K. Druschel a, Molly M. McGuire c, Robert J. Hamers c, Jillian F. Banfield a a Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, McLean Lab, Mail Stop No. 8, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA 02543, USA b UniÕersity of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Geology and Geophysics, 1215 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI 53706, USA c UniÕersity of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Chemistry, 1101 UniÕersity AÕenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA Received 21 July 1999; accepted 3 January 2000 Abstract The oxidative dissolution of sulfide minerals leading to acid mine drainageŽ. AMD involves a complex interplay between microorganisms, solutions, and mineral surfaces. Consequently, models that link molecular level reactions and the microbial communities that mediate them to field scale processes are few. Here we provide a mini-review of laboratory and field-based studies concerning the chemical, microbial, and kinetic aspects of sulfide mineral dissolution and generation of AMD at the Richmond ore body at Iron Mountain, California. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Acid mine drainage; Pyrite; Sulfide dissolution; Microorganisms 1. Site description ment facility that is still in use today, the drainage from Iron Mountain flowed without treatment into Iron Mountain is considered as one of the most the Sacramento river, with deleterious environmental unique acid mine drainageŽ. AMD sites because of consequences such as massive fish kills. Currently, the extremely acidic, metal-rich waters encountered waste is diverted from disused subsurface mines to there. Iron Mountain is a massive sulfide ore body the treatment facility for neutralization of acidity and within rhyolitic host rock, located in the West Shasta precipitation of metals. Mining District of Northern CaliforniaŽ. Fig. 1 . The A number of minesŽ Richmond, Hornet, Lawson, ore body was mined between the 1860s and the and others. generate acidic waters at Iron Mountain. 1960s for Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Zn, and pyriteŽ for However, the effluent from the Richmond mine tun- sulfuric acid. Prior to the late 1980s, when Super- nelsŽ. Fig. 1 is the most metal-rich Ž up to 200 g ly1 . fund monies were used to construct a waste treat- and acidicŽ. down to pHsy3.5 reported anywhere in the worldŽ. Alpers et al., 1994; Nordstrom, 2000 . Hence, a great deal of research and environmental ) Corresponding author. Tel.: q1-508-289-3620. monitoring has focused on the Richmond ore body, E-mail address: [email protected]Ž. K.J. Edwards . tunnel system, and effluent. A compilation of the 0009-2541r00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0009-2541Ž. 00 00216-3 384 K.J. Edwards et al.rChemical Geology 169() 2000 383±397 contact with acid-generating ore bodies. is what sets Iron Mountain apart from other AMD systems. Fur- ther studies are required to determine if the condi- tions at Iron Mountain are truly unique, or if the site represents perhaps a rare opportunity to study pro- cesses that occur at other, inaccessible subsurface AMD sites. 2. AMD formation: reactions and products of sulfide dissolution AMD is caused by the oxidative dissolution of sulfide minerals that have been exposed to surface air, water, and microorganisms. It is important to Fig. 1. Location maps of Iron Mountain, California, with a note that acid waters can occur in the absence of schematic plan-view layout of the Richmond Mine Tunnels. mining, and have historically been recognized Ž.Nordstrom and Alpers, 1999b . Mining, however, frequently results in increased exposure of reactive Richmond effluent composition from 1940 to 1991 is mineral surfaces to oxidants. This has occurred at available from the USGSŽ. Alpers et al., 1992 . The Iron Mountain due to the extensive tunnel systems average flux of AMD from the Richmond Mine and fracturing of the overall ore body. indicates that approximately 20 million moles of PyriteŽ. FeS2 is the most abundant sulfide on the pyrite are oxidized every yearŽ Nordstrom and Alpers, Earth's surface. Consequently, kinetic aspects of 1999a. At this rate, it will take ;3200 years for the pyrite oxidation have been studied more extensively pyrite at the Richmond ore body to oxidize than any other sulfide mineralŽ Williamson and Rim- Ž.Nordstrom and Alpers, 1999a . Pyrite oxidation is stidt, 1994; Rimstidt and Newcomb, 1992; Brown highly exothermic, which is implied to account for and Jurinak, 1989; Moses et al., 1987; McKibben the elevated temperatures at the Richmond, up to and Barnes, 1986; Wiersma and Rimstidt, 1984; 508C, particularly during heavy seasonal rainfalls Garrels and Thompson, 1960; Stokes, 1901. Previ- Ž.Edwards et al., 1999a . ous reviews of the pyrite oxidation literature have Subsurface AMD sites, Iron Mountain among been made by LowsonŽ. 1982 and Nordstrom Ž. 1982 , many others, are often inaccessible because of the and more recently by Nordstrom and Southham hazardous conditions that result from frequent cave- Ž.1997 , and Nordstrom and Alpers Ž 1999b . ins. Consequently, the geochemistry and micro- At low pH, the rate of oxidative dissolution is biology of AMD run-off streams in the vicinity of controlled by the concentration of ferric iron, which ore bodies are far better studied than subsurface sites interacts with reactive surface sites more effectively in contact with ore bodies, and this is reflected in the than oxygenŽ. McKibben and Barnes, 1986 . The available literature concerning AMD. In the 1980s, overall stoichiometry of the reaction is commonly following a period of more than 35 years of unsafe written as: conditions at Iron Mountain, renovations allowed q 3q q access to the subsurface environments at the Rich- FeS2Žs.Ž14Fe aq. 8H2 OŽl. mond Mine. Site access for scientific studies at ™15Fe2q q2SO2y q16Hq.1Ž. limited sites within Richmond Mine has been main- Žaq. 4Žaq. tained since that time through regular renovations The rate-limiting step in the oxidative dissolution of and maintenance. It is not known if the conditions at pyrite is considered to be the oxidation of ferrous Iron Mountain are expressly unique, or if access to iron to regenerate ferric ironŽ Singer and Stumm, subsurface sites of primary acid generationŽ i.e., in 1970. K.J. Edwards et al.rChemical Geology 169() 2000 383±397 385 ReactionŽ. 1 describes the overall stoichiometry Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of oxidative dissolution reactions, but it does not Ž.XPS have recently become quite commonly uti- describe the individual steps that must occur in the lized techniques for the determination of chemical oxidation of sulfide to sulfate because of the large speciation at the surfaces of pyrite and other metal number of electrons that is transferred. Intermediate sulfides. Since elemental sulfur has no electronic species such as elemental sulfur, sulfoxy compounds, dipoleŽ. and therefore no infrared absorption , Raman and sulfites may play an extremely important role in is a particularly good probe of elemental sulfur. To the overall reaction kineticsŽ Nordstrom and South- better understand the role of microorganisms in alter- ham, 1997. ing surface chemistry during dissolution, we have The most widely accepted model of sulfide min- used Raman spectroscopy to analyze surfaces reacted eral dissolution was proposed by Singer and Stumm in the laboratory with enrichment cultures of mi- Ž.1968 . This model describes the sequential oxida- croorganisms known to be important members of the tion of surface sulfur atoms to form the thiosulfate microbial community at the Richmond MineŽ Ed- anion, which is then liberatedŽ along with Fe2q. into wards et al., 1997, 1998, 1999b. The enrichment solution. The thiosulfate anion is subsequently oxi- culture contained the iron-oxidizing species, Ferro- dized to sulfate. In this case the overall reactionŽ. 1 plasma acidarmanus and Leptospirillum ferrooxi- can be separated into the surface reactionŽ. 2 and dans, as well as a sulfur oxidizer, Thiobacillus cal- solution phase reactionŽ. 3 : dus. Pyrite was reacted with enrichment cultures under conditions within the ranges observed at Iron FeS q6Fe3qq3H O™SO2yq7Fe2qq6Hq, 2223 MountainŽ. pH 1.5 and 378C . Fig. 2 shows a compar- Ž.2 ison of the Raman spectrum of a pyrite single crystal exposed to the enrichment cultureŽ. Fig. 2C and the SO2yq8Fe3qq5H O™2SO2yq8Fe2qq10Hq. 23 2 4 spectrum of a sample reacted abiotically in acid for Ž.3 the same length of time. The original starting surface Ž.Fig. 2A shows three primary peaks, 342, 377, and An important aspect of this model is that it predicts y 435 cm 1, that arise from bulk pyrite. After reaction the formation of only water-soluble products. How- for 22 days in acid, the surface shows little change in ever, numerous reports have shown that elemental sulfur also forms at surfacesŽ McGuire et al., 1999, in review; Sasaki et al., 1995; see below. A com- plete model of pyrite dissolution must incorporate the formation of all observed surface products. 2.1. Intermediate dissolution products on sulfide mineral surfaces Chemical changes taking place on the mineral surface are important in at least two respects. Forma- tion of secondary minerals at the surface has the potential for forming inert layers that might inhibit diffusion of oxidants to the surface, thereby slowing dissolution. Additionally, intermediate sulfur prod- ucts that develop on surfaces can be used as an energy source for some microorganisms. The specia- tion of intermediates surface products and the kinet- Fig. 2. Raman spectra of pyrite crystals.Ž. A Unreacted; Ž. B Ž. ics of their production are crucial for understanding abiotically reacted with sulfuric acid, pH 1.5 for 22 days; C reacted with a mixed enrichment culture of iron- and sulfur- how they, and the microbial communities they sup- oxidizing microorganisms for 22 daysŽ modified after McGuire et port, impact overall sulfide dissolution rates.
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