Transport of arsenic and iron following mine induced oxidation of an aquifer

Iron and arsenic concentrations have been monitored in a water supply aquifer located in NSW Australia. The aquifer has been sandmined upstream of the water supply pump stations. The sandmining has oxidized the aquifer resulting in the release of trace metals including iron, arsenic and manganese into the aquifer. The project determined the geochemical processes controlling the downstream migration of contamination. These included ion exchange, gibbsite buffering, sulphate reduction, arsenic sorption and aquifer flushing.