Electromagnetic induction characterization of soil contamination from the São Domingos Mine (Portugal)

The São Domingos Mine (Mértola, Portugal) is an abandoned sulfide mine. Heavy metal (HMs) contamination of the soil extends for approximately 20 km along a watercourse connected to a reservoir and two international rivers. Assessing the contamination is a slow process involving the collection of soil samples for HMs analysis.

The INCOME (Inputs for a more sustainable region – Instruments for managing metal-contaminated areas) project is an interdisciplinary study that aims to determine faster ways to obtain contamination maps using Artificial Intelligence techniques combining data from Geophysics, Chemistry Analysis, and Remote Sensing.

This approach allows to improve the sustainability of management of contaminants, which will drive optimization and reduce resources spent on sampling and analysis phases. Furthermore, the model aims to provide important real-time information for decision-making related to pollution monitoring and management. It also has high potential for replication in other contaminated environments, such as landfills, industries, or even intensive agriculture.

This work presents the results of electromagnetic induction surveys conducted in several sectors of the São Domingos Mine. The results are analyzed graphically, through shape analysis and compared with patterns observed in visible satellite imagery. Furthermore, the values ​​obtained for these shapes are also analyzed to attempt to establish correspondence with standard values ​​of the physical parameters of the contaminating materials present in the mine.

Acknowledgments: The work is supported by the Promove Program of the “la Caixa” Foundation, in partnership with BPI and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), in the scope of the project INCOME – Inputs para uma região mais sustentável: Instrumentos para a gestão de zonas contaminadas por metais (Inputs for a more sustainable region: Instruments for managing metal-contaminated areas), PD23-00013, and by national funds through FCT, in the framework of the UID/06107/2025 – Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia para o Sistema Terra e Energia (CREATE – University of Évora), and in the frame of UID/00073/2025 and UID/PRR/00073/2025 projects of the R&D unit of Geosciences Center (University of Coimbra, Portugal).