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The impact of pumped water from a de-watered Magnesian limestone quarry on an adjacent wetland: Thrislington, County Durham, UK

Lookup NU author(s): Dr William Mayes, Professor Andy LargeORCiD, Professor Paul Younger

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Abstract

Although quarrying is often cited as a potential threat to wetland systems, there is a lack of relevant, quantitative case studies in the literature. The impact of pumped groundwater discharged from a quarry into a wetland area was assessed relative to reference conditions in an adjacent fen wetland that receives only natural runoff. Analysis of vegetation patterns at the quarry wetland site, using Detrended Correspondence Analysis and the species indicator values of Ellenberg, revealed a clear disparity between community transitions in the quarry wetland and the reference site. Limited establishment of moisture-sensitive taxa, the preferential proliferation of robust wetland species and an overall shift towards lower species diversity in the quarry wetland were explicable primarily by the physico-chemical environment created by quarry dewatering. This encompassed high pH (up to 12.8), sediment-rich effluent creating a nutrient-poor substrate with poor moisture retention in the quarry wetland, and large fluctuations in water levels. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Mayes W, Large A, Younger P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Environmental Pollution

Year: 2005

Volume: 138

Issue: 3

Pages: 444-455

Print publication date: 01/12/2005

ISSN (print): 0269-7491

ISSN (electronic): 1873-6424

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2005.04.018

DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2005.04.018

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