Identification of contaminant sources, transport and fate at the catchment scale is crucial to evaluate and predict human and environmental impacts. Land management practice and water quality protection suffer from the threat posed by mining and agriculture activities. Historical and contemporary mining activities generate significant volumes of contaminated waste that can have wide-ranging implications, including potential lethal and sub-lethal effects on aquatic biota, adverse effects on surface waters used for drinking water and irrigation, and overall degradation of water bodies used for recreation and other purposes. Furthermore, contaminants may originate from various sources related to agriculture activities including cultivation, aquaculture, livestock and dairy farms and related food-processing industries.
Ming and agricultural contaminants can be dispersed in river catchments by a variety of physical, chemical and biological pathways and processes. The complexity and variability of these processes are still seeking a complete understanding .This session aims to characterize and quantify: (1) source areas contributing to contaminant mass dispersion, (2) transport processes mobilizing contaminants from their source areas to and through affected water bodies including streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater, (3) biogeochemical processes attenuating and/or transforming contaminants, (4) the interactions of contaminants with biota and ecosystems, and (5) the use of hydro(geo)chemical and stable isotope tracers to quantify (agro)contaminant sources and transport. Submissions from a variety of subfields are welcome, including research into mine water treatment and mine waste remediation practices, and biogeochemical modelling of contaminant at the catchment scale. We also welcome submissions that focus on a variety of contaminant types including, but not limited to, metals, metalloids, rare earth elements, sulfate, pesticides and nutrients.