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Acid Rock Drainage

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Encyclopedia of Geobiology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Synonyms

Acid mine drainage; AMD; ARD

Definition

Acid mine and acid rock drainage (AMD/ARD) refer to the extremely acidic (pH < 3), metal-rich waters that are derived from the weathering of sulfidic minerals when exposed to air, water, and microorganisms (Figure 1; Nordstrom and Alpers, 1999; Bond et al., 2000):

Acid Rock Drainage. Figure 1
figure 1

An AMD stream at a nickel-copper mine in northern Ontario, Canada. The orange and red colours in the stream are Fe-oxyhydroxide and Fe-sulphate mineral precipitates.

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Bibliography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Lesley A. Warren

Authors
  1. Lesley A. Warren
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Joachim Reitner  & Volker Thiel  & 

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Warren, L.A. (2011). Acid Rock Drainage. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_3

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