The Suspended Sediment and Metals Load from the Mariana's Tailing Dam Failure to the Coastal Sea
Carlos Augusto França Schettini, Vanessa Hatje
Abstract
We present an assessment on the sediment flux caused by the tailing dam failure at Mariana, Minas Gerais Estate, Brazil. Field data of water level, water flow, and suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) were obtained during the period from 21 November to 5 December 2015, when the muddy waters reached the coast. A rating curve of the coastal tidal signal was built, allowing a robust estimate of the flow at the mouth of the Doce River. Together with SSC data, early sediment delivered to the coastal sea was of 15 × 104 t, what may account for only 0.5% of the total material remobilized at the accident site. This accounted for >25 000 t of Fe and between 1 and 4 t of other trace metals, such as Co, Ni, and Zn. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;16:661-668. © 2020 SETAC.