Assessing pollution risk in mining area

In this project, we study the general contaminant, e.g. trace metals, transport and transformation characteristics at a catchment scale. This is done with a comprehensive field investigation in an ungauged mine-impacted catchment. This included the field and lab measurement of hydrological data, soil/sediment data, and water quality data to understand the soil and water pollution characteristics in the target catchment. A reactive solute transport/transformation module was coded and integrated it into a physically-based, distributed hydrology-sediment model TOPKAPI-ETH for a real application in this catchment about pollution risk assessment and remediation strategies evaluation. Moreover, a (reactive) tracer-tracking module for TOPKAPI-ETH was also coded and applied to a data-rich headwater catchment to understand the role of general chemical reactions, i.e. sorption and degradation, on the transit time and age distribution of reactive tracers.