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Intersection of wildfire and legacy mining poses risk to water quality

December 19, 2024

Mining and wildfires are both landscape disturbances that pose elevated and substantial hazards to water supplies and ecosystems due to increased erosion and transport of sediment, metals, and debris to downstream waters. The risk to water supplies may be amplified when these disturbances occur in the same watershed. This work describes mechanisms by which the intersection of mining and wildfire may lead to elevated metal concentrations in downstream waters: (1) conveyance of metal-rich ash and soil to surface waters, (2) increased dissolution and transport of dissolved metals due to direct contact of precipitation with mine waste, (3) increased erosion and transport of metal-rich sediment from mining waste, (4) remobilization of previously deposited metal-contaminated floodplain sediment by higher postfire flood flows, and (5) increased metal transport from underground mine workings. Predicted increases in wildfire size, frequency, and burn severity, together with the ongoing need for metal resources, indicate that improved mapping, monitoring, modeling, and mitigation techniques are needed to manage the geochemical hazard of the intersection of wildfire and mining and implications for water availability.

Publication Year 2025
Title Intersection of wildfire and legacy mining poses risk to water quality
DOI 10.1021/acs.est.4c09489
Authors Sheila F. Murphy, Johanna Blake, Brian A. Ebel, Deborah A. Martin
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Environmental Science and Technology
Index ID 70262529
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization WMA - Earth System Processes Division
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