Constructed wetlands are an established treatment technology for a diverse range of polluted effl... more Constructed wetlands are an established treatment technology for a diverse range of polluted effluents. There is a long history of using wetlands as a unit process in treating acid mine drainage, while recent research has highlighted the potential for wetlands to buffer highly alkaline (pH > 12) drainage. This paper reviews recent evidence on this topic, looking at wetlands treating acidic mine drainage, and highly alkaline leachates associated with drainage from lime-rich industrial by-products or where such residues are used as filter media in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. The limiting factors to the success of wetlands treating highly acidic waters are discussed with regard to design practice for the emerging application of wetlands to treat highly alkaline industrial discharges. While empirically derived guidelines (with area-adjusted contaminant removal rates typically quoted at 10 g Fe m2/day for influent waters pH > 5.5; and 3.5–7 g acidity/m2/day for pH > 4 to < 5.5) for informing sizing of mine drainage treatmentwetlands have generally been proved robust (probably due to conservatism), such data exhibit large variability within and between sites. Key areas highlighted for future research efforts include: (1) wider collation of mine drainage wetland performance data in regionalised datasets to improve empirically-derived design guidelines and (2) obtaining an improved understanding of nature of the extremophile microbial communities, microbially-mediated pollutant attenuation and rhizospheral processes in wetlands at extremes of pH. An enhanced knowledge of these (through multi-scale laboratory and field studies), will inform engineering design of treatmentwetlands and assist in the move from the empirically-derived conservative sizing estimates that currently prevail to process-based optimal design guidance that could reduce costs and enhance the performance and longevity of wetlands for treating acidic and highly alkaline drainage waters.
Abstract. The contamination and resulting degradation of water courses by effluents from aban-don... more Abstract. The contamination and resulting degradation of water courses by effluents from aban-doned and active mines is a world-wide problem. Traditional methods of remediating the discharges from mines involve the addition of chemicals and the utilisation of artificial ...
The physico-chemical properties of iron oxyhydroxide plaques formed on the roots of Phragmites au... more The physico-chemical properties of iron oxyhydroxide plaques formed on the roots of Phragmites australis under ®eld and laboratory conditions were determined using electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis. Plaques were present as an amorphous coating on roots with an uneven distribution. They were shown to be composed of iron in both the ®eld and laboratory, and phosphorus was found to be adsorbed onto the surface of plaques formed in the laboratory. The uptake of copper and manganese in the presence and absence of plaque was investigated under two dierent pH regimes. Concentrations of Cu were lower in the shoots of P. australis in the presence of plaque (565 mg kg À1 ) than when it was absent (1400 mg kg À1 ), under growth conditions of higher pH (6 . 0). The adsorption of Cu and Mn onto the plaque surface was not the mechanism by which plaque reduced the uptake of other metals. Alternatively, the plaque may simply act as a physical barrier. Under conditions of lower pH (3 . 5) the activity of hydrogen ions at the root surface interfered with the movement of metals into the root and masked any potential eect of iron plaque.
If agriculture is taken to be an industry, then agricultural runoff can be seen as its waste prod... more If agriculture is taken to be an industry, then agricultural runoff can be seen as its waste product. As such we should seek to negate adverse agricultural losses of nutrients and sediments in a proactive way. This can be described as earth systems engineering. Sustainable nutrient loadings, buffer strips, wetlands and other buffering features are beneficial, however, practical agro-economic realities
ABSTRACT Upland environments have the potential to preserve relatively undisturbed multi-period a... more ABSTRACT Upland environments have the potential to preserve relatively undisturbed multi-period archaeological remains due to reduced anthropogenic impacts such as intensive agriculture. However, these environments can also be extremely fragile and susceptible to alternative pressures from insensitive land-use practices and their dynamic geomorphological setting. This paper presents the results of research focusing on the interactions between industrial heritage sites and their semi-natural landscape context within the upland landscapes of Alston Moor, North Pennines, UK. Change detection using multispectral Landsat data was combined with detailed mapping from airborne lidar, aerial photographs and fieldwork to quantify the rate and nature of the changing condition of selected industrial archaeological sites. Results indicate that extensive degradation has been occurring at a number of former lead mining sites over recent decades, primarily due to fluvial erosion in the form of gullying but with slope and aeolian processes also of significance in particular locations. Soil samples taken from actively eroding areas within Fletcheras Rake, one of the earliest documented lead mines in the area, suggest that the reworking and redistribution of sediments from former mining sites are releasing heavily contaminated sediments into the wider hydrological catchment. It is argued that a more complete understanding of the complex interrelationships and linkages between archaeological sites and the semi-natural environments in which they are situated can only be achieved through the combined application of research methods employed by both the archaeological and geomorphological disciplines.
Constructed wetlands are an established treatment technology for a diverse range of polluted effl... more Constructed wetlands are an established treatment technology for a diverse range of polluted effluents. There is a long history of using wetlands as a unit process in treating acid mine drainage, while recent research has highlighted the potential for wetlands to buffer highly alkaline (pH > 12) drainage. This paper reviews recent evidence on this topic, looking at wetlands treating acidic mine drainage, and highly alkaline leachates associated with drainage from lime-rich industrial by-products or where such residues are used as filter media in constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. The limiting factors to the success of wetlands treating highly acidic waters are discussed with regard to design practice for the emerging application of wetlands to treat highly alkaline industrial discharges. While empirically derived guidelines (with area-adjusted contaminant removal rates typically quoted at 10 g Fe m2/day for influent waters pH > 5.5; and 3.5–7 g acidity/m2/day for pH > 4 to < 5.5) for informing sizing of mine drainage treatmentwetlands have generally been proved robust (probably due to conservatism), such data exhibit large variability within and between sites. Key areas highlighted for future research efforts include: (1) wider collation of mine drainage wetland performance data in regionalised datasets to improve empirically-derived design guidelines and (2) obtaining an improved understanding of nature of the extremophile microbial communities, microbially-mediated pollutant attenuation and rhizospheral processes in wetlands at extremes of pH. An enhanced knowledge of these (through multi-scale laboratory and field studies), will inform engineering design of treatmentwetlands and assist in the move from the empirically-derived conservative sizing estimates that currently prevail to process-based optimal design guidance that could reduce costs and enhance the performance and longevity of wetlands for treating acidic and highly alkaline drainage waters.
Abstract. The contamination and resulting degradation of water courses by effluents from aban-don... more Abstract. The contamination and resulting degradation of water courses by effluents from aban-doned and active mines is a world-wide problem. Traditional methods of remediating the discharges from mines involve the addition of chemicals and the utilisation of artificial ...
The physico-chemical properties of iron oxyhydroxide plaques formed on the roots of Phragmites au... more The physico-chemical properties of iron oxyhydroxide plaques formed on the roots of Phragmites australis under ®eld and laboratory conditions were determined using electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis. Plaques were present as an amorphous coating on roots with an uneven distribution. They were shown to be composed of iron in both the ®eld and laboratory, and phosphorus was found to be adsorbed onto the surface of plaques formed in the laboratory. The uptake of copper and manganese in the presence and absence of plaque was investigated under two dierent pH regimes. Concentrations of Cu were lower in the shoots of P. australis in the presence of plaque (565 mg kg À1 ) than when it was absent (1400 mg kg À1 ), under growth conditions of higher pH (6 . 0). The adsorption of Cu and Mn onto the plaque surface was not the mechanism by which plaque reduced the uptake of other metals. Alternatively, the plaque may simply act as a physical barrier. Under conditions of lower pH (3 . 5) the activity of hydrogen ions at the root surface interfered with the movement of metals into the root and masked any potential eect of iron plaque.
If agriculture is taken to be an industry, then agricultural runoff can be seen as its waste prod... more If agriculture is taken to be an industry, then agricultural runoff can be seen as its waste product. As such we should seek to negate adverse agricultural losses of nutrients and sediments in a proactive way. This can be described as earth systems engineering. Sustainable nutrient loadings, buffer strips, wetlands and other buffering features are beneficial, however, practical agro-economic realities
ABSTRACT Upland environments have the potential to preserve relatively undisturbed multi-period a... more ABSTRACT Upland environments have the potential to preserve relatively undisturbed multi-period archaeological remains due to reduced anthropogenic impacts such as intensive agriculture. However, these environments can also be extremely fragile and susceptible to alternative pressures from insensitive land-use practices and their dynamic geomorphological setting. This paper presents the results of research focusing on the interactions between industrial heritage sites and their semi-natural landscape context within the upland landscapes of Alston Moor, North Pennines, UK. Change detection using multispectral Landsat data was combined with detailed mapping from airborne lidar, aerial photographs and fieldwork to quantify the rate and nature of the changing condition of selected industrial archaeological sites. Results indicate that extensive degradation has been occurring at a number of former lead mining sites over recent decades, primarily due to fluvial erosion in the form of gullying but with slope and aeolian processes also of significance in particular locations. Soil samples taken from actively eroding areas within Fletcheras Rake, one of the earliest documented lead mines in the area, suggest that the reworking and redistribution of sediments from former mining sites are releasing heavily contaminated sediments into the wider hydrological catchment. It is argued that a more complete understanding of the complex interrelationships and linkages between archaeological sites and the semi-natural environments in which they are situated can only be achieved through the combined application of research methods employed by both the archaeological and geomorphological disciplines.
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Papers by Lesley Batty