Revealing the Protective Dynamics of an Ecologically Engineered Wetland against Acid Mine Drainage: A Case Study in South Africa
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Substrate Sampling
2.2.1. Surface Water
2.2.2. Wetland Bottom Sediment
- Elemental Composition: Analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), which identifies and quantifies the elemental composition by measuring the fluorescent X-rays emitted from the sample [46].
- Sediment Texture Analysis: Performed using the pipette method, which separates and classifies sediment particles by size to determine the texture [47].
- Microbiological Diversity: Assessed through 16s RNA sequencing, a technique used to identify and characterize bacterial communities by sequencing the ribosomal RNA genes [48].
2.2.3. Precipitated Mineral Salts
2.2.4. Macrophyte Roots and Periphyton Sampling
2.3. Analytical Methods
2.3.1. X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
2.3.2. Pipette Method for Soil Texture Analysis
2.3.3. 16S rRNA Sequencing
2.3.4. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy
2.3.5. Scanning Electron Microscopy
2.4. Statistical Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Surface Water Quality
3.2. Bottom Sediment Characterization
3.3. Macrophyte Sorption Abilities
3.4. Periphyton Sorption Abilities
3.5. Microbiological Diversity
- S1:
- Helicobacteraceae > Hydrogenophilaceae > Rhodospirillaceae > Gallionellaceae > Xanthomonadaceae.
- S2:
- Acidobacteriaceae > Gallionellaceae > Xanthomonadaceae > Helicobacteraceae > Hydrogenophilaceae.
- S3:
- Helicobacteraceae > Gallionellaceae > Xanthomonadaceae > Hydrogenophilaceae > Rhodospirillaceae.
3.6. Precipitated Mineral Salts
3.7. Ecological Engineering Interventions and Ecosystem Services
3.8. Integrated Findings
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
AMD | Acid mine drainage |
EC | Electrical conductivity |
ICP-OES | Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy |
OC | Organic carbon |
OM | Organic matter |
ORP | Oxidation−reduction potential |
OTUs | Operational taxonomic units |
SA | South Africa |
SANAS | National Standard Accreditation System |
SANBI | South African National Biodiversity Institute |
SEM | Scanning electron microscopy |
SRB | Sulfate-reducing bacteria |
TDS | Total dissolved solids |
US EPA | United States Environmental Protection Agency |
XRF | X-ray fluorescence |
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Wetland Substrate | Assessment | Analytical Method |
---|---|---|
Surface water | Physical and chemical characteristics | Electrometric, conductimetric, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry [44,45] |
Bottom sediment | Elemental composition | X-ray fluorescence (XRF) [46] |
Sediment texture analysis | Pipette method for sediment texture analysis [47] | |
Microbiological diversity | 16s RNA sequencing [48] | |
Macrophyte roots and periphyton | Metal adsorption and absorption | Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) [49] |
Unflooded soil precipitate | Mineralogy | X-ray fluorescence (XRF) [50] |
Parameter | Unit | S1 | S2 | S3 | Change (S1:S3) | % Change (S1:S3) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pH | – | 3.90 | 3.84 | 7.18 | +3.28 | 84.10 |
Alkalinity | mg/L CaCO3 | 22.00 | <5.00 | 143.00 | +121.00 | 550.00 |
Electrical conductivity (EC) | mS/m | 178.6 | 180.50 | 152.10 | −26.5 | 14.84 |
Total dissolved solids (TDSs) | mg/L | 1196.62 | 1209.35 | 1019.07 | −177.5 | 14.84 |
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) | mg/L | 5.18 | 5.17 | 16.00 | +10.82 | 208.88 |
Aluminum (Al) | mg/L | 1.60 | 1.80 | <0.01 | −1.59 | 99.38 |
Iron (Fe) | mg/L | 0.33 | 0.58 | 0.26 | −0.07 | 21.21 |
Manganese (Mn) | mg/L | 10.80 | 10.90 | 37.10 | +26.30 | 243.52 |
Sulfate (SO42−) | mg/L | 1310.00 | 579.00 | 774.00 | −536.00 | 40.07 |
Sediment Characteristic | Unit | Average Concentration | Student’s t-Test (S1; S3) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S1 | S2 | S3 | Mean Difference | t | p Value | ||
pH | – | 6.09 | 6.59 | 6.52 | −0.43 | −1.02 | 0.37 |
Oxidation reduction potential (ORP) | mV | −219.67 | −206.07 | −217.30 | −2.37 | −0.02 | 0.99 |
Organic carbon (OC) | % | 9.61 | 14.93 | 13.59 | −3.98 | −0.83 | 0.49 |
Organic matter (OM) | % | 16.57 | 25.74 | 23.43 | −6.86 | −0.83 | 0.49 |
Clay | % | 46.29 | 45.25 | 27.19 | 19.10 | 7.00 | 0.00 |
Silt | % | 13.65 | 16.77 | 8.35 | 5.30 | 3.62 | 0.02 |
Sand | % | 40.06 | 37.97 | 64.47 | −24.41 | −8.20 | 0.00 |
Aluminum (Al2O3) | wt % | 5.19 | 5.87 | 4.55 | 0.64 | 1.29 | 0.29 |
Iron (Fe2O3) | wt % | 4.36 | 4.79 | 4.41 | −0.05 | −0.08 | 0.94 |
Manganese (MnO) | wt % | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.07 | −0.02 | −2.24 | 0.11 |
Sulfur (SO3) | wt % | 0.64 | 0.56 | 0.63 | 0.00 | 0.21 | 0.85 |
Element | Unit | Average Concentration | Student’s t-Test (S1; S3) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S1 | S2 | S3 | Mean Difference | t | p Value | ||
Adsorption | |||||||
Aluminum (Al) | (mg/kg) | 1.77 | 0.56 | 0.22 | 1.55 | 14.98 | 0.00 |
Iron (Fe) | (mg/kg) | 0.54 | 0.72 | 0.57 | −0.03 | −0.55 | 0.62 |
Manganese (Mn) | (mg/kg) | 2.24 | 14.09 | 7.66 | −5.42 | −257.72 | 0.00 |
Absorption | |||||||
Aluminum (Al) | (mg/kg) | 192.87 | 154.82 | 178.74 | 14.13 | 8.92 | 0.00 |
Iron (Fe) | (mg/kg) | 174.11 | 487.33 | 364.01 | −189.90 | −135.94 | 0.00 |
Manganese (Mn) | (mg/kg) | 6.62 | 19.68 | 74.35 | −67.73 | −117.96 | 0.00 |
Element | Unit | Average Concentration | Student’s t-Test (S1; S2) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S1 | S2 | Mean Difference | T | p Value | ||
Adsorption | ||||||
Aluminum (Al) | (mg/kg) | 0.48 | 0.44 | 0.04 | 0.38 | 0.73 |
Iron (Fe) | (mg/kg) | 0.79 | 0.78 | 0.01 | 0.22 | 0.84 |
Manganese (Mn) | (mg/kg) | 1.13 | 0.37 | 0.76 | 56.24 | 0.00 |
Absorption | ||||||
Aluminum (Al) | (mg/kg) | 170.3 | 38.61 | 131.68 | 572.71 | 0.00 |
Iron (Fe) | (mg/kg) | 284.78 | 241.43 | 43.34 | 45.63 | 0.00 |
Manganese (Mn) | (mg/kg) | 8.91 | 4.41 | 4.50 | 199.84 | 0.00 |
Element | Unit | S1 | S2 | S3 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aluminum (Al2O3) | (wt %) | 1.42 | 1.53 | 1.78 |
Iron (Fe2O3) | (wt %) | 1.69 | 1.40 | 1.95 |
Manganese (MnO) | (wt %) | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.08 |
Sulfur (SO3) | (wt %) | 18.50 | 18.56 | 13.67 |
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Jansen van Vuuren, M.; Schoeman, Y.; Botha, A.-M.; Oberholster, P.J. Revealing the Protective Dynamics of an Ecologically Engineered Wetland against Acid Mine Drainage: A Case Study in South Africa. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 7441. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177441
Jansen van Vuuren M, Schoeman Y, Botha A-M, Oberholster PJ. Revealing the Protective Dynamics of an Ecologically Engineered Wetland against Acid Mine Drainage: A Case Study in South Africa. Applied Sciences. 2024; 14(17):7441. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177441
Chicago/Turabian StyleJansen van Vuuren, Mariette, Yolandi Schoeman, Anna-Maria Botha, and Paul J. Oberholster. 2024. "Revealing the Protective Dynamics of an Ecologically Engineered Wetland against Acid Mine Drainage: A Case Study in South Africa" Applied Sciences 14, no. 17: 7441. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177441