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Contamination of two Oregon reservoirs by cinnabar mining and mercury amalgamation

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

 Two reservoirs in western Oregon contain mercury-contaminated sediment and fish as a result of historic mercury mining in the Cottage Grove Lake watershed and mercury amalgamation used in gold mining in the Dorena Lake watershed. On average, sediment in Cottage Grove Lake contains ten times as much mercury as sediment from Dorena Lake (2.720 versus 0.242 ppm). Mercury content in Cottage Grove Lake sediment shows a sharp initial decrease and leveling off with time that reflects the end of the major cinnabar mining phase; deposition of other heavy metals appears to be linked to the clay content of sediment. Mercury input to Dorena Lake has remained fairly constant with time, but small increases in mercury are associated with the deposits of large floods. Copper, lead, and zinc input to Dorena Lake exhibits a marked decrease and leveling off related to the end of commercial mining for these metals.

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Received: 12 October 1999 · Accepted: 22 March 2000

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Ambers, R., Hygelund, B. Contamination of two Oregon reservoirs by cinnabar mining and mercury amalgamation. Environmental Geology 40, 699–707 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002540000173

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002540000173

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