Application of lead stable isotopes to the Guadiamar Aquifer study after the mine tailings spill in Aznalcóllar (SW Spain)

On 25 April 1998 the tailings dam of the Aznalcollar mine burst, a great quantity of pyrite waste sludge and acid water was spilled reaching the vicinity of the Donana National Park. In surface and ground water samples taken a week after dam breaking, metals, trace elements and Pb isotopic ratios (206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/206Pb) were analysed. In September 1998 a second sampling survey was carried out. The surface waters have a similar isotopic composition as the lead contained in the pyrite from the Aznalcollar mine. The polluted groundwater of the Guadiamar aquifer also shows the influence of the mining origin of the lead. Lead isotope ratios (206Pb/207Pb and 208Pb/206Pb) in the groundwater of the Almonte-Marismas are very low and they differ clearly from the rest of groundwater samples. A further group of wells has a lead isotope composition intermediate between the Aznalcollar mine and the atmospheric aerosols of the Iberian Peninsula.