Vol. 337 No. 5 (2026)

DOI https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/5/4954

Geochemical anomalies of mobile forms of elements in the pore space of technogenic bodies

Relevance. The need to understand the features of chemical weathering processes of man-made bodies that directly supply large amounts of toxic elements to the environment and affect the quality of water, air, and soils in cities and towns where stored waste is located. Aim. To determine the composition of the interpore fluid with the calculation of the chemical forms of the elements using physico-chemical modeling. Methods. XRF, XRF-SI, ICP-MS, capillary electrophoresis, stepwise leaching, thermodynamic modeling. The Visual Minteq 3.0 program was used for geochemical modeling of the forms of elements in solutions. Results and conclusions. The authors have carried out the studies on the example of the site of the old sulfide-containing Talmovskie Peski tailings dam (Salair, Kemerovo region). In the dam easily soluble salts are washed away by seasonal flows, leaching solutions flow into low relief areas with the formation of temporary reservoirs and puddles, their stagnation, transformation of physico-chemical conditions, deposition of intermediate compounds and then migration of drainage of already modified composition into the river network. The composition of water extracts from different horizons of the tailing dump showed that upon contact with seasonal flows, metals pass into solution in the form of aqua ions and sulfate complexes. This immediately allows you to divide them into several migration groups. The main element dictating the conditions is iron. It forms hydroxide complexes. This leads to the precipitation of amorphous Fe(OH)3 compounds already at pH>3.5, the deposition of abundant ochres, an increase in the acidity of waters, and a sharp increase in dissolved forms of elements. All this ultimately serves as a source of hydrochemical anomalies in the Malaya Talmovaya River, where runoff from the tailings dam enters.

For citation: Korneeva T.V., Saeva O.P., Bortnikova S.B., Gaskova O.L., Volynkin S.S. Geochemical anomalies of mobile forms of elements in the pore space of technogenic bodies. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering, 2026, vol. 337, no. 5, pp. 187-202. https://doi.org/10.18799/24131830/2026/5/4954

Keywords:

sulfide dumps, forms of migration of chemical elements, aqueous extracts, pore solutions, iron, zinc, thallium, beryllium

Authors:

Tatiana V. Korneeva

Olga P. Saeva

Svetlana B. Bortnikova

Olga L. Gaskova

Sergey S. Volynkin

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