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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geoscience and Society
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1487950
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploration, Development, and Protection of Earth’s Resources and Environment: Methods, Techniques, Applications, Prospects, Insights, and Problems View all 43 articles
Surface Water Pollution Caused by Phosphate Mining Development in Mabian Jinyang Area, Sichuan Province in 2021: Chemical Analysis and Potential Ecological Risk Index Assessment
Provisionally accepted- 1 The 7th Geological Brigade of Sichuan, Leshan, China
- 2 School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), beijing, China
- 3 Sichuan Vocational College of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 4 China Aerospace Planning and Design Group Co.,Ltd, Beijing, China
- 5 Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China
- 6 Research Center for Strategy of Global Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Science, beijing, China
Background: The impact of phosphate mining development on surface water pollution and ecological disasters is a highly concerned issue in global mining activities. With the increasing demand for phosphate fertilizers, the environmental impact of phosphate mining is becoming increasingly prominent, especially in the Mabian Jinyang area of Sichuan Province. This study aims to analyze the mechanisms and impacts of water pollution and ecological disasters caused by phosphate mining development, and evaluate the ecological risks caused by heavy metal pollution in water bodies. Method: We conducted a systematic assessment of the impact of phosphate mining development on water pollution and ecological risks in the Mabian Jinyang area of Sichuan Province using chemical analysis and potential ecological risk index (PERI) method.The total area of the region is approximately 6400 square kilometers. We conducted systematic water sample collection and analysis at 367 sampling points from January 2020 to December 2021.By collecting water samples from different work areas, measuring the content of heavy metal elements and total phosphorus in the samples, and quantitatively evaluating the potential threat of heavy metal pollution to the aquatic ecosystem. Result: The research results show that in the mining work area, both heavy metal element indicators and total phosphorus indicators exhibit point pollution, and the total phosphorus concentration in the water body varies greatly with the seasons.One of the main reasons for the excessive total phosphorus is the collapse caused by geological disasters and the non-standard stacking of slag and gangue piles in the mining development area. In addition, in terms of potential ecological hazards, it is positively correlated with the degree of mining development, and the higher the degree of mining development, the greater the potential ecological hazards.
Keywords: chemical analysis methods, ecological risk assessment, distribution of heavy metals, Sustainable mining, Environmental management strategy, Identification of pollution sources, Environmental impact of phosphate ore
Received: 29 Aug 2024; Accepted: 28 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tian, Chen, Zhang, Wang, Lu, Qin and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhen Chen, School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), beijing, China
Qunyi Liu, Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China
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