Dissolved sulphate δ34S and the origin of sulphate in coal mine waters; NE England

Banks, D. and Boyce, A. J. (2023) Dissolved sulphate δ34S and the origin of sulphate in coal mine waters; NE England. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 56(2), (doi: 10.1144/qjegh2022-106)

Abstract

Coal mine waters have been sampled during a reconnaissance study in the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and Tyneside areas of England. Almost all the mine waters had similar δ18O and δ2H indicating a derivation from Holocene recharge (average -7.9‰ and -54‰, respectively, excluding two outliers). Most mine waters emerging by shallow gravity drainage have dissolved sulphate δ34S of < +10‰, suggesting a derivation of sulphate from oxidation of pyrite. Deeper mine waters, pumped from boreholes or shafts tended to be more saline with a dissolved sulphate δ34S of >+14‰ and, in two cases, >+30‰. The sulphate in these latter waters cannot be readily explained as deriving from pyrite oxidation. Alternative hypotheses (evaporitic or marine brines, evaporite dissolution, closed-system microbial sulphate reduction) can be invoked as explanations. A more general hypothesis proposes that deep groundwaters / mine waters can be regarded as saline “sinks”, whose sulphate δ34S is controlled by a dynamic equilibrium between rates of sulphate mobilisation from various sources and sulphate removal by precipitation or microbial reduction.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This pilot study was carried out without external project funding. However, staff time was funded by the University of Glasgow (DB) and by SUERC and the NERC NEIF Facility at SUERC (AJB, under their pilot analyses scheme). Isotopic analyses were carried out at the NEIF-Geoscience-High T Facility at SUERC [Grant: NERC Facility contract NE/S011587/1].
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Banks, Mr David and Boyce, Professor Adrian

Creator Roles

Banks, D.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Methodology
Boyce, A.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Banks, D., and Boyce, A. J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy; College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
• Publisher: Geological Society
• ISSN: 1470-9236
• ISSN (Online): 2041-4803
• Published Online: 10 February 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 56(2)
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License