U.S.-Bolivia Cooperative Research: Assessment of the Transport, Storage and Environmental Impacts of Heavy Metals within the Rio Pilcomayo Basin, Southern Bolivia

这个美洲项目奖将资助美国-玻利维亚关于玻利维亚采矿对环境影响的研究项目。合作者是印第安纳大学的曾傑瑞·R·米勒博士、布鲁明顿和ING。豪尔赫·特杰里纳·奥勒，“胡安·米萨尔·萨拉乔”自治大学，玻利维亚塔里哈。该项目的主要目标是增进我们对重金属在一般河流系统内，特别是在玻利维亚的皮尔科马约-皮拉亚系统内的运输和去向的了解。具体目标是确定地貌过程的作用以及这些过程对重金属初级沉积模式的变化，初步了解所选金属在矿床内的特定阶段分布，并确定历史和现代采矿作业对里约皮尔卡马约河谷内沉积物和水质的相对重要性。有了这些信息，研究人员将开发一个概念性/经验性模型来描述沉积物中重金属沿河流的运输和储存。调查结果将为了解采矿作业造成的重金属污染对环境的影响提供一个初步步骤，若干组织可以利用这些影响制定健全的管理和恢复战略。***

9907976MillerThis Americas Program award will fund a US-Bolivia research project on the environmental impacts of mining in Bolivia. Collaborators are Dr. Jerry R. Miller, Indiana University, Bloomington and Ing. Jorge Tejerina Oller, Universidad Autonoma"Juan Misael Saracho", Tarija, Bolivia. The primary objective of this project is to increase our understanding of the transport and fate of heavy metals within river systems in general, but particularly within the Pilcomayo-Pilaya system of Bolivia. Specific objectives are to determine the role of geomorphic processes, and the changes in these processes on the primary depositional patterns of heavy metals, to gain a preliminary understanding of the phase-specific distribution of selected metals within the deposits and to determine the relative importance of historic and modern mining operation on sediment and water quality within the Rio Pilcamayo valley. With this information, the researchers will develop a conceptual/empirical model to describe the transport and storage of sediment-bound heavy metals along the river. The results of the investigation will provide an initial step in understanding the environmental impacts associated with heavy metal contamination from mining operations, which could be used by several organizations to develop sound management and restoration strategies. ***