Twenty years of environmental studies in the Guadiamar

The Aznalcóllar mine accident (April 1998) was a large-scale ecological and socio-economic catastrophe in the South of Spain. Since then, the Research Group SOIL-PLANT in the IRNAS, CSIC has been working on the area affected by the mine spill, currently known as Guadiamar Green Corridor.

Suelo cubierto del lodo minero, 1998. Foto: J.M. Murillo.

With the occasion of the 20th anniversary of this environmental catastrophe, a review article has been prepared, including all the studies dealing with soil and plant relationships, carried out within the contaminated and remediated zone of the Guadiamar Green Corridor. This review is a contribution to the European project RECARE – preventing and remediating degradation of soils in Europe.

            The published information about the chemical composition of the sludge and contaminated soils is reviewed in this article, as well as the monitoring of trace elements and their dynamics in the soil-plant system. The effectiveness of different types of amendments to remediate these soils, at different spatial and time scales, is reviewed. The soil concentrations of trace elements are shown, and their transfer to plants (crops, herbs, shrubs and trees) are evaluated focused on the possible toxicity effects in the food web. The utility of some plant species (accumulators of trace elements) are examined, as biomonitors. Finally, the experience acquired during 20 years of environmental studies in the Guadiamar Green Corridor is discussed, remarking its international relevance as a large-scale phytoremediation of contaminated soils.

The review article has been published in the June 2018 issue of the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Madejón P., Domínguez M.T., Madejón E., Cabrera F., Marañón T., Murillo J.M. 2018. Soil-plant relationships and contamination by trace elements: A review of twenty years of experimentation and monitoring after the Aznalcóllar (SW Spain) mine accident. Science of the Total Environment 625, 50–63.

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