Kaisa Turunen

Geological Survey of Finland | GTK · Water and minimg environment solutions

Conductivity is useful as a general measure of stream water quality. Each stream inclines to have a quite constant range of conductivity that can be used as a baseline for comparing and detecting influence of pollution sources. Conductivity in natural streams and rivers is affected primarily by the geology of the watershed. Thus discharges from dit...

Effluent from Europe's largest active gold mine is discharged to the adjacent River Seurujoki via natural treatment wetlands in Lapland Finland. Site waters, including two sources of mine effluent, treatment wetland surface water and Seurujoki river water were chemically and isotopically characterized. The results of isotopic characterization were...

Mining influences the quality and quantity of water in the mine area and in its surroundings and changes hydrological conditions. Although mining companies have long been conscious of the importance of water management, they still face environmental problems. In fact, water management is at the moment the most challenging stress factor concerning e...

Aquatic organisms represent a significant ecological indicator for assessing the physical and chemical changes and anthropogenic impact on water quality. Besides this, aquatic organisms that spend most of their life cycle in water are extremely important in maintaining the health of aquatic ecosystems and also represent a very useful instrument for...

Mining tends to increase, especially airborne and water related emissions of possibly harmful elements and transforming them into more mobile and toxic forms. Therefore, it is important to estimate the effects of mining activity and compare it with the natural background to understand the contaminant sources and the processes controlling the water...

Clear anomalous electrical conductivity horizons and high salinity (Cl, Na, Ca) of groundwater were identified in several exploration boreholes at a mine development site in Western Finland. As these could not be explained thoroughly with geological variations, further studies on the origin of the anomalies were suggested. The results indicate lon...

Past environments of the Earth's surface may be deciphered and modelled using stable isotopes along with mineralogical, sedimentological, biological, palaeontological, chemical and climatological methodologies. This volume is devoted to studies investigating the distribution of stable isotopes in precipitation and groundwaters and their interaction...

Mining operations disturb the natural hydrological cycle at a local scale by creating new pathways for water flow and conveying large amounts of water, both for use in ore beneficiation and through the dewatering of mining workings. Sulfide minerals exposed to water and oxygen are oxidized through chemical and microbial-enhanced reactions, signific...

Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-361-228-0 Ohjeistus suljettujen ja hylättyjen kaivannaisjätealueiden riskiperusteisesta kunnostustarpeen arvioinnista käsittelee ensisijaisesti metallimalmikaivoksille ominaisia riskejä, kuten happamien ja haitta-aineita sisältävien valumavesien muodostumista, pölyämistä ja rakenteiden sort...

Mine water discharges can cause negative effects on recipient rivers. The magnitude of the effects depends on how quickly and efficiently contaminants dilute in the river. Electrical conductivity (EC) is linked to the water quality and can be utilized as a general tool to compare and detect the contaminant sources and concentration changes derived...

The Min-North (Development, Evaluation and Optimization of Measures to Reduce the Environment Impact of Mining Activities in Northern Regions) project was a trans-national cooperative project, with participants from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), University of Oulu (UO), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Luleå University of Techno...

This guidebook collects the methodologies and experiences GTK has received in bedrock groundwater studies in mining areas in the past few years. It does not cover all the aspects or methods of mining hydrogeology, but provides an outlook of macro scale studies performed in Finland. For a hydrogeology expert the guidebook is a checklist of common me...

The SUSMIN -project (Tools for sustainable gold mining in EU) was implemented under the ERA-MIN Programme (Network on the Industrial Handling of Raw Materials for European Industries) in the first ERA-MIN Joint Call on Sustainable and Responsible Supply of Primary Resources (2013). SUSMIN -project developed comprehensive environmental and social ma...

Water is both a crucial resource for the mining industry, as well as the primary pathway for the spread of mining related contamination to the environment. Knowledge and characteriza-tion of hydrogeological parameters at a mine site are crucial for establishing baseline hydro-logical conditions and for predicting the release and transport of contam...

Water sampling and laboratory analysis are laborious, span over a long period and require a large volume of samples to be collected and analysed. Therefore online monitoring devices could help narrowing down the suitable sampling sites and intervals, but also to react in case of any sudden changes in physico-chemical characters due to a failure of...

The behaviour of arsenic (As) derived from tailings was investigated at the Yara Siilinjärvi apatite mine and industrial site in eastern Finland. The study assessed factors influencing the migration and fate of As and compared the anthropogenic As load to the natural geogenic background. Environmental risks related to As were assessed by examining...

Although mining companies have long been conscious of water related risks, they still face environmental management challenges. Several recent environmental incidents in Finnish mines have raised questions regarding mine site environmental and water management practices. This has increased public awareness of mining threats to the environment and r...

Isotopic methods accompanied by hydrogeochemical studies can reveal solute sources, distribution processes and possible hydraulic connections of mine waters. Moreover understanding the hydrological systems and long-term changes in water chemistry enables predicting the mine drainage quality and behavior in long run as well as choosing the adequate...

Electrical conductivity (EC) is useful as a general measure of stream water quality and can be utilized to compare and detect influence of contaminant sources. Mine water discharges to recipient stream affect not only the flow rate in the river but also water quality and conductivity. In natural stream waters, the depth and the shape of the river c...

The isotopic composition of water is an important fingerprinting method for tracing recharge sources, distribution processes and possible hydraulic connections of mine waters. However, since, the isotopes alone do not indicate the contamination derived from mining activities; also a set of geochemical analysis of harmful substance in water is acqui...

Natural peatlands can be used as passive purification systems for mine wastewaters. These treatment peatlands are well-suited for passive water treatment as they delay the flow of water, and provide a large filtration network with many adsorptive surfaces on plant roots or soil particles. They have been shown to remove efficiently harmful metals an...

Although the gold demand has been constantly increasing in past years, the commodity findings have been decreasing and the extraction of gold has complicated due to increasing complexity and decreasing grade of the ores. Additionally, even gold mining could increase economical development, it has also challenges in eco-efficiency and extraction met...

In extractive and industrial minerals arsenic is a common element that cannot be avoided in mining activities. Anthropogenic activities can affect the behavior and form of arsenic by changing the chemistry and oxidizing conditions of water and soil. Therefore, areas naturally poor in arsenic may still have elevated concentrations in solid wastes or...

Areas with bedrock abundant in ore minerals have naturally high amount of harmful elements in soil as well as in ground and in surface waters. After the beginning of the mining also the anthropogenic contamination specially related to mine waters tends to increase. Thus, it is important to estimate the effects of mining activity and water treatment...

Arsenic is a problematic element due to its relatively high mobility over a wide range of redox-conditions and its toxicity to humans, animals and plants. In extractive and industrial minerals arsenic is a common element and cannot be eluded in mining and quarrying activities. Therefore, mining and industrial activities are one of the most serious...

Areas with bedrock abundant in ore minerals have naturally high amount of harmful elements in soil as well as in ground and in surface waters. After the beginning of the mining also the anthropogenic contamination tends to increase. Thus it is important to compare this load to the natural background when assessing the contamination of mine area and...

(Weisenberger, Tobias and Junttila, Hanna (eds.) Program and abstracts of the 9th National Geological Colloquium Oulu,)