Retention and transport of arsenic, uranium and nickel in a black shale setting revealed by a long-term humidity cell test and sequential chemical extractions

- We study the retention and transport of As, U and Ni in a black shale setting.
- The strength of one commonly used sequential extraction scheme is emphasized.
- Sea-level rise as a potential driver for As remobilization in low-lying coastal areas

The dispersion of acidic solutions with high levels of metals/metalloids, as a result of oxidative weathering of pyritic geomaterials, is a major environmental problem in areas where these materials are widely distributed and/or were historically mined. In this study, four types of materials encountered in an old black-shale mining area (unweathered black shale, weathered black shale, burnt black shale, and lime-mixed burnt black shale) were subjected to a long-term (up to 137 weeks) humidity cell test (HCT) combined with sequential chemical extractions (SCE), with the aim of examining geochemical controls on the release of Ni, U and As in this kind of pyritic settings. By combining the results of HCT and SCE as well as previously collected groundwater data, it is clearly shown that the degree of pyrite oxidation is the only major factor controlling the release of Ni, resulting in its highly elevated concentrations in acidic groundwaters. Although U followed a similar leaching pattern as observed for Ni and occurred abundantly in acidic groundwaters, a major decrease in the chemical fraction targeting exchangeable and carbonate phases, and a correlation of U concentrations with redox potential in groundwaters collectively suggest that the release of U was largely controlled by the solubilization of sorbed/carbonate U phases by oxidation to the highly soluble form (UO22 +). As compared to the HCT, the SCE procedures used in this study delivered equally good estimates of Ni, U and S cumulatively leached, suggesting the strength of the SCE in terms of quantification of these elements during the weathering of pyritic geomaterials. Arsenic X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy shows that during the HCT (oxidation and leaching) of unweathered black shale, As was oxidized from its reduced form (having the oxidation state of − 1 and most probably occurs as arsenian pyrite) to As(+ 5). Compared to the two cationic metals, As was released to a very limited extent and was not detectable in the leachates having pH between 6 and 3. This is because As was speciated exclusively as negatively-charged oxyanions in these leachates as predicted by MINTEQ modeling, thus was effectively attenuated by concurrently formed iron minerals. These minerals include mainly schwertmannite and K-jarosite as observed by SEM-EDS and also predicted by MINTEQ modeling. Elevated levels of As exclusively occurred in the groundwaters from one tube strongly impacted by seawater intrusion. This was regarded as a reflection of loosely-sorbed As oxyanions reliberated through ion exchange with seawater chloride. In this context, sea-level rise on a global scale as a potential driver for arsenic remobilization in low-lying coastal areas deserves further attention.