Evaluation of pollution levels at an abandoned coal mine site in Turkey with the aid of GIS

Date

2011-04-01

Author

YENİLMEZ, Firdes
Kuter, Nazan
EMİL, Mustafa Kemal
Aksoy, Ayşegül

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

161
views

0
downloads

Determination of the level of pollution at contaminated sites can be costly due to the number of samples required to identify the areas with higher contaminant concentrations. Yet, if pollution transport pathways can be found, then contamination level can be detected with fewer samples. In this case study, pollution levels at an abandoned coal mine site at Ovacik-Yaprakli (Cankiri, Turkey) are evaluated with respect to topography and surface runoff pathways derived using Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. First, surface runoff pathways are identified using ArcGIS 9.3. Then, the concentrations of trace elements (Mn, Cr, V. Cu, Ni, Zn, Ba, and Sr), pH, Fe and S contents in soil samples taken at random locations around the mine area are determined in a laboratory. In addition, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) are measured in flowing waters in-situ at different locations using pH and EC probes. The spatial distribution of pollutant concentrations is evaluated with respect to the surface runoff pathways and locations of potential contamination sources (i.e. open pit, coal storage and dump sites). Finally, the contamination level in the study area is assessed based on the limit values stated in the Soil Pollution Control Regulation of Turkey (SPCR). Results indicate that the site is contaminated with Cr, Ni, and Cu. In general, pollutant concentrations are higher close to the contamination sources and along the surface runoff pathways determined by the ArcGIS. Results indicate that GIS can aid in locating the areas that are more likely to have high pollutant concentrations. This would in return prevent overlooking highly contaminated spots which may be located far away from contamination sources. Moreover, these areas can be determined using a smaller number of samples which would decrease the sampling costs.

Subject Keywords

Fuel Technology, Economic Geology, Stratigraphy, Geology

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/42914

Journal

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL GEOLOGY

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2010.11.012

Collections

Department of Environmental Engineering, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Evaluation of coal and water samples from Manisa-Soma-Deniş region conccerning Balkan Endemic Nephropathy and determination of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy risk Öztürk, Mehmet Sinan; Önen, A. Pırıl; Department of Geological Engineering (2006) The water and coal samples from the Manisa-Soma-Deniş region were studied on the basis of their basic characteristics, inorganic and organic parameters. Coal samples were determined as low-quality lignite. They have high concentrations of arsenic, uranium and lead. The organics in the coal samples are of aliphatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives (alkanes and alcohols), methyls, phthalates, naphtalenes and benzenes. They are inactive and low in concentrations. Water samples have basic characteristics with...
Assessment of shrinkage-swelling influences in coal seams using rank-dependent physical coal properties Balan, Huseyin Onur; Gumrah, Fevzi (Elsevier BV, 2009-01-07) Characterization of coal reservoirs and determination of in-situ physical coal properties related to transport mechanism are complicated due to having lack of standard procedures in the literature. By considering these difficulties, a new approach has been developed proposing the usage of relationships between coal rank and physical coal properties. In this study, effects of shrinkage and swelling (SS) on total methane recovery at CO2 breakthrough (TMRB), which includes ten-year primary methane recovery and...
Preparation of clay-polymer nanocomposite for the retardation of waste water infiltration in landfill sites Bildiren, Mert; Günal Türkmenoğlu, Asuman; Department of Geological Engineering (2007) In this thesis study, the use of clay-polymer nanocomposites for their applicability in landfill sites as a product of retardation of waste water infiltration was evaluated. For this purpose, organophilic clays from HDTMA+ organic cation and nanocomposites of montmorillonite were prepared. The bentonite samples B1, B2 and B3 dominantly contain 2:1 layer montmorillonite and 1:1 interstratification of illite/smectite mixed layer as clay minerals. B1 is an unmodified yellow bentonite and B2 is a grey bentonite...
Monitoring of chemical and isotopic compositions of geothermal waters along the North Anatolian fault zone Süer, Selin; Güleç, Nilgün Türkan; Department of Geological Engineering (2004) This study aims to determine the chemical (anion-cation) and isotopic compositions (d18O-dD-3H) of the geothermal waters along the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) and highlight any possible seismicity-induced temporal variations during the course of two years (2002-2003) monitoring programme. The geothermal sites are alligned along a 800 km transect of the NAFZ and are, from west to east, Yalova, Efteni, Bolu, Mudurnu, Seben, Kursunlu, Hamamözü, Gözlek and Resadiye. The thermal waters of NAFZ are dominant...
Numerical modeling of seawater groundwater relationships in the Selçuk sub basın, İzmir Turkey Hassan, Abubakr; Çamur, Mehmet Zeki; Department of Geological Engineering (2004) Seawater-fresh groundwater natural equilibrium conditions in the aquifers of the Selçuk sub-basin may be disturbed by the discharge occurred during the past 30 years in order to supply water for irrigation and domestic purpose usage. Two dimensional density dependent cross sectional saturated flow and solute transport simulations were carried out to determine whether seawater intrusion has occurred in the Selçuk sub-basin due to the imposed discharge or the determined salt-water in the western section of th...

Citation Formats

F. YENİLMEZ, N. Kuter, M. K. EMİL, and A. Aksoy, “Evaluation of pollution levels at an abandoned coal mine site in Turkey with the aid of GIS,” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL GEOLOGY, pp. 12–19, 2011, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/42914.