{"id":384,"date":"2016-09-02T14:16:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T14:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/?page_id=384"},"modified":"2016-09-02T15:10:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T15:10:03","slug":"project-copper-tailings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/?page_id=384","title":{"rendered":"Project Copper Tailings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Study sites<\/a> – Thesis<\/a> – Papers<\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

The effects of copper mine tailings disposal on the littoral meiofaunal\u00a0assemblages of the Cha\u00f1aral area of northern Chile were studied. Tailings\u00a0disposal has taken place along this stretch of coastline since the 1938. The\u00a0tailings, derived from the Potrerillos (now closed) and the El Salvador mines,\u00a0were sent down the dry river bed of the Rio Salado to be deposited in Cha\u00f1aral\u00a0bay resulting in the formation of an extensive tailings beach. In the 1975 the\u00a0tailings were redirected from the Rio Salado via a tailings canal to a new\u00a0dumping point at Caleta Palito, ten kilometres north of Cha\u00f1aral bay. Again a\u00a0large tailings beach formed in the littoral zone between Caleta Agua Hedionda\u00a0and Caleta La Lancha. In 1990 after court action a tailings settlement dam was\u00a0constructed at Pampa Austral where the solid component of the tailings was\u00a0allowed to settle out. Since then only \u2018clear water\u2019 tailings have been delivered\u00a0to the coast at Caleta Palito.<\/p>\n

A sediment quality triad (SQT) approach was used to examine the effects of the\u00a0tailings, supported by laboratory experiments designed to look at each of the\u00a0perturbing components of the tailings individually. The first element of the SQT\u00a0was an analysis of the physicochemical nature of the beaches studied. The\u00a0concentrations of labile metals, assumed to be equivalent to the bioavailable\u00a0metals, were measured in both the porewater and overlying seawater using the\u00a0diffusion gel technique (DGT). An analysis of the sediment structure was also\u00a0conducted. The second element of the SQT was an analysis of the meiofaunal\u00a0assemblage structure on each of the beaches studied using both univariate and\u00a0multivariate (PRIMER) techniques. The third element of the SQT was the use of\u00a0whole assemblage meiofaunal bioassays conducted in microcosms. Finally, to\u00a0provide supporting information, a series of laboratory microcosm experiments\u00a0were conducted to identify the effects of copper alone and the physical impact of\u00a0the tailings on meiofaunal assemblages. Twelve sites were used for the study,\u00a0and were divided a priori in to three groups. The first group were the reference\u00a0sites (Las Piscinas, Torres del Inca and Playa Zenteno) which lay sufficiently far\u00a0to the south as to be unaffected by the tailings dumping. The second group were\u00a0the northern sites within the Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar (Puerto Pan de\u00a0Azucar, Frente Isla Pan de Azucar and Playa Blanca), these sites on visual\u00a0inspection did not appear to be impacted by the tailings dumping. The third\u00a0group were those sites located around the dumping points (Caleta La Lancha,\u00a0Caleta Agua Hedionda, Palito 1000m Norte, Playa Palito, Palito 2000m Sur and\u00a0Playa Cha\u00f1aral) which on visual inspection showed clear signs of impact by the\u00a0tailings dumping.<\/p>\n

Though a number of metals could be associated with the tailings discharge at\u00a0Caleta Palito by their distribution in the seawater samples, only in the case of\u00a0copper was there a clear association with the tailings distribution in both the\u00a0seawater and porewater samples. The concentrations of copper in the seawater\u00a0and porewater were highly correlated and it was assumed that the tailings on the\u00a0beaches was the source of copper in the adjacent seawater. When compared to\u00a0the reference sites, the meiofaunal assemblages at the impacted sites (the third\u00a0group) had significantly lower densities and diversities, at the northern sites only\u00a0the densities were lower. The two groups within the meiofauna that proved to be\u00a0most sensitive to the effects of tailings dumping were the foraminiferans and the\u00a0harpacticoid copepods. Otoplanid turbellarians were identified as characteristic\u00a0of the beaches impacted with tailings. BIOENV (PRIMER) analysis of the data\u00a0indicated that the combination of porewater copper and the amount of tailings\u00a0present were most responsible for the observed structure of the meiofaunal\u00a0assemblages. The bioassay of the sediments indicated that the sediments from\u00a0the northern sites were not toxic to the test meiofaunal assemblages, but\u00a0confirmed the toxicity of the sediments from the impacted sites. The response of\u00a0the meiofaunal assemblages to increased bioavailable copper was confirmed\u00a0using the laboratory microcosm experiments. The effects of the reduction\u00a0interstitial space, the physical impact of the tailings, depended upon the group\u00a0under consideration. For the foraminiferans the increased surface area resulted in\u00a0an increase in the population density, however the reverse was the case for the\u00a0harpacticoid copepods. The effects of the reduction of interstitial space for the\u00a0polychaete Saccocirrus were negative, unable to burrow it tended to congregate\u00a0on the surface of the sediment were it would be exposed to an increased risk of\u00a0predation and loss of position in the littoral zone.<\/p>\n

Using the SQT methodology to summarise the findings of this research I was\u00a0able to further divide the impacted sites in to two groups. The most severely\u00a0impacted sites were those beaches composed only of tailings (Caleta La Lancha,\u00a0Caleta Agua Hedionda and Playa Cha\u00f1aral) where both the increased\u00a0concentration of bioavailable copper and the reduction of interstitial space were\u00a0acting on the resident meiofaunal assemblages. The less severely impacted sites\u00a0were those where there were tailings present but the tailings had not completely\u00a0smothered the beach (Palito 1000m Norte, Playa Palito and Palito 2000m Sur).\u00a0At these sites the bioavailable concentrations of copper were generally lower and\u00a0the reduction in the interstitial space less severe.<\/p>\n

This research supports the use of the sediment quality triad as none of the\u00a0individual components alone was able to predict the overall level of pollution-induced degradation at the sites studied. The combination of all three\u00a0components gives a much more comprehensive picture of the state of the sites\u00a0than any one component alone would have.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Thesis<\/h2>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong> (2001) The Effects of Copper Mine Tailings Disposal on\u00a0the Littoral Meiofaunal Assemblages of the\u00a0Cha\u00f1aral Area of Northern Chile. PhD. Thesis. University of Wales, Bangor<\/p>\n

<\/a>Papers<\/h2>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong>, Correa, J.A. & Castilla, J.C. (2001) An assessment of the potential use of the nematode to copepod ratio in the monitoring of metals pollution. The Cha\u00f1aral case. Marine Pollution Bulletin<\/em>. 42<\/strong>: 696-701.<\/p>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong>, Correa, J.A. & Zhang, H. (2002) Effective metal concentrations in porewater and seawater labile metal concentrations associated with copper mine tailings disposal into the coastal waters of the Atacama region of northern Chile. Marine Pollution Bulletin<\/em>. 44<\/strong>: 956-961.<\/p>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong> & Correa, J.A. (2004) Copper mine tailings disposal: Consequences for the interstitial polychaete Saccocirrus sonomacus<\/em>. (Canalipalpata, Protodrilida). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom<\/em>. 84<\/strong>: 603-606.<\/p>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong> & Correa, J.A. (2005) The effects of copper mine tailings on the littoral meiofaunal assemblages of the Atacama region of northern Chile. Marine Environmental Research<\/em>. 59<\/strong>: 1-18.<\/p>\n

Lee, M.R.<\/strong>, Correa, J.A. & Seed, R. (2006) A sediment quality triad analysis of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on the littoral sedimentary environment of the Atacama region of northern Chile. Marine Pollution Bulletin<\/em>. 52<\/strong>: 1389-1395.<\/p>\n

Lee, M.R. <\/strong>& Correa, J.A. (2007) An assessment of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on meiofaunal assemblages using microcosm bioassays. Marine Environmental Research<\/em>. 64<\/strong>: 1-20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Study sites – Thesis – Papers Abstract The effects of copper mine tailings disposal on the littoral meiofaunal\u00a0assemblages of the Cha\u00f1aral area of northern Chile were studied. Tailings\u00a0disposal has taken place along this stretch of coastline since the 1938. The\u00a0tailings, derived from the Potrerillos (now closed) and the El Salvador mines,\u00a0were sent down the dry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":95,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-384","page","type-page","status-publish","czr-hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403,"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/384\/revisions\/403"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meiochile.matthewlee.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}