Pinal Creek

Lind, C. J. and J. D. Hem, 1993, Manganese minerals and associated fine particulates in the streambed of Pinal Creek, Arizona, U.S.A., a mining-related acid drainage problem. Applied Geochemistry 8, 67-80. 

Brown J. G., Bassett R. L., and Glynn P. D. (1998) Analysis and simulation of reactive transport of metal contaminants in ground water in Pinal Creek Basin, Arizona. In Special Issue—Reactive Transport Modeling of Natural Systems (eds. C. I. Steefel and P. van Cappellen). J. Hydrol. 209, 225 - 250. 

A similar modeling study was conducted by Stollenwerk (1994) to interpret a column experiment on the acidic water and alluvium sediments interactions for Miami Wash and Pinal Creek, Arizona. He used minteqa2 to simulate the equilibrium states in column effluents. 

Acid Mine Drainage, Pinal Creek, Arizona... 

The Pinal Creek basin in central Arizona, about 100 km east of Phoenix, is one of the most polluted acid mine drainage sites in the USA (Figure 9.2). Mining activities over a century, mostly in copper from porphyry deposits, have resulted in a plume of acidic groundwater in the alluvium and basin fill aquifer. The plume is laden with heavy metals. Many potential contamination sources, including mine tailings, heap leach, surface impoundments, and surface run-off and groundwater flow in the mineralized... 

There are many practical reasons why migration of the Pinal Creek acid plume and associated metals needs to be predicted from models ... 

Figure 9.2. The Pinal Creek site, after Brown et al. (1998).

Table 9.5. Chemical compositions of groundwater at Pinal Creek, Arizona. Concentrations are in milligrams per liter. Groundwater flows from Wells 402 to 503.

Stollenwerk, K.G., 1991. Simulation of reactions affecting transport of constituents in the acidic plume, Pinal Creek Basin, Arizona, in J.G. Brown and B. Favor, eds, Hydrology and Geochemistry of Aquifer and Stream Contamination Related to Acidic water in Pinal Creek Basin Near Globe, Arizona. U.S. Geol. Survey Water Supply paper 2466, pp. 21 19. 

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