At joint International Workshop of Mexican, Hungarian and Slovenian researchers titled Significance of historical small scale ore processing for mercury dispersion at Idrija area, case studies which are presented in this book were selected. Idrija and its mercury mine have a unique status in Slovenian geology and even wider in natural sciences. As a consequence of environmental awareness that began 30 to 40 years ago another branch of research developed – environmental geochemistry. Researchers in the field of geochemistry have fully taken the advantage of Idrija’s past activities and invisibly transformed the area into the natural laboratory to study longterm impacts of mercury on the environment. That is why the experience, research results and knowledge sharing between experts tackling the challenges of mercury’s impact on the environment are so important. These were the main drivers of the joint Workshop of Hungarian, Mexican and Slovenian researchers and the papers published in this book are a solid proof that the abovementioned goals were achieved.
C.01 Editorial board of a foreign/international collection of papers/book
COBISS.SI-ID: 264613888Doc. dr. Mateja Gosar is editor in chief of the of scientific periodical review Geologija. Geologija is a central Slovenian scentific journal with a 50 year history and tradition. It has an international advisory board. contributions of slovenian and foreign authors are published in Geologija. Contributions cover the fields of geological mapping, stratigraphy, paleontology, mineralogy, mineral deposits, hydrogeology, environment protection, geochemistry, geohazards, seismology, geoinformatics and related activities.
C.05 Editorial board of a national magazine
COBISS.SI-ID: 5636866The purpose of the research was to determine the influence of historical small scale ore processing sites on today’s extension and spatial distribution of mercury in the environment in Idrija area and to establish their significance for environmental contamination. The study was performed with the intention to enable a better and more accurate explanation for today’s distribution of mercury in the wider Idrija area. The main aims were to determine the contents and vertical distribution of mercury in soils and sediments at studied roasting sites and to establish the changes in mercury speciation with depth in the soil profile. The special focus was on the study of mercury transformations and transport characteristics through the 350 years-long period, from the cessation of roasting in the woods to the present time. It was shown that total mercury concentrations determined in soils and humus from investigated areas are extremely high. Thermo-desorption measurements revealed the presence of cinnabar and Hg bound to soil matrix components. Cinnabar and non-cinnabar Hg compounds are almost equally distributed in most of the samples. The laboratory leaching experiments have confirmed significant Hg concentrations in soil and humus leachates, indicating a possible mobilization of mercury. According to these findings, we estimate that roasting sites present a significant source of Hg contamination to the surrounding ecosystems. Because of transport of contaminated material with surface runoff and of soluble Hg compounds, which are potentially bioavailable, with groundwater, highly contaminated roasting site areas are of concern also for the wider Idrija area as also for the Gulf of Trieste which will finally receive most of the Hg leached from the contaminated soils in the Idrija area.
D.09 Tutoring for postgraduate students
COBISS.SI-ID: 251576832Possibilities of application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) to mineralogical and geochemical researches of metal-polluted environmental media were the main topic of this PhD thesis. The application of SEM/EDS was shown on a case study of metal-polluted Meža Valley, which has been a centre of Pb-Zn mining, ore processing and iron- and steel-based metallurgical industry for more than 300 years. Stream sediments, snow deposits and mine waste deposits from the Meža Valley were sampled and analysed as representative environmental media. Metal-bearing phases in samples were characterised by their morphology, size and elemental compositions, measured with the EDS. These characteristics served as a basis for source apportionment of metal-bearing phases, interpretation of their genesis and the assessment of their mineralogy and stability under given environmental conditions.
D.09 Tutoring for postgraduate students
COBISS.SI-ID: 262812672The extremely long history of men-made influences on the environment were presented in the presentation. Firstly, natural (geogenic) outcrop of ore rich rocks caused Hg concentration in the environment to rise. As the production of Hg started in 1492, it had soon moved to the neighbouring forests due to the lack of wood. In this way, Hg was brought far into the Idrija surrounding areas. Since 1652, when the first roaster in Idrija as built, the Hg rich side products of smelting had been deposited along the river, and important Hg air emissions were active. This was even more important after a modern smelter was built on the right bank of the Idrijca River in 1867. This caused more intense Hg air emissions and accumulation of large amounts of mercury in river Idrijca overbank sediments.
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 2066517