Journal article
The impacts of intensive mining on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems: A case of sediment pollution and calcium decline in cool temperate Tasmania, Australia
KK Beck, M Mariani, M-S Fletcher, L Schneider, MA Aquino-Lopez, PS Gadd, H Heijnis, KM Saunders, A Zawadzki
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | Published : 2020
Abstract
Mining causes extensive damage to aquatic ecosystems via acidification, heavy metal pollution, sediment loading, and Ca decline. Yet little is known about the effects of mining on freshwater systems in the Southern Hemisphere. A case in point is the region of western Tasmania, Australia, an area extensively mined in the 19th century, resulting in severe environmental contamination. In order to assess the impacts of mining on aquatic ecosystems in this region, we present a multiproxy investigation of the lacustrine sediments from Owen Tarn, Tasmania. This study includes a combination of radiometric dating (14C and 210Pb), sediment geochemistry (XRF and ICP-MS), pollen, charcoal and diatoms. G..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Awarded by Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE e award)
Awarded by AINSE Postgraduate Research Award
Funding Acknowledgements
This project was financially supported by the Australian Research Council (award: DI110100019 and IN140100050) and the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE e award ALNGRA16/024). Michela Mariani would like to acknowledge the support of the AINSE Postgraduate Research Award #12039. We would like to thank Tasmania National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Traditional Owners both past and present for their support in allowing us to work on their lands. Kristen K. Beck would like to acknowledge the Albert Shimmins Fund for their financial support. We would also like to thank Scott Nichols, Stella Thomas and Kilian Thomas for their assistance in the field and Gavin L. Simpson for his help with the statistical analyses. The data from this manuscript will be made publicly available on Neotoma (https://www.neotomadb.org/) upon date of publication. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the helpful feedback on this work.