ANALYSIS OF LONG TERM EFFECTS OF MINING ON FLUVIAL SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER SYSTEM AND THE FATE OF OLD TAILINGS OF THE KELLY GOLD MINE, VIRGINIA

The Virginia pyrite and gold belt running parallel to the Blue Ridge Mountains provided a sizeable entrepreneurial opportunity for miners in the late 1800 to early 1900s. The Kelly gold mine, located in Fauquier County, VA, still have old shafts, stamp mills, and ore dump piles remaining on mine grounds even after its operation ended in 1899. Sediment, soil and water samples from the Kelly mine area and at depositional reaches of the Rappahannock and its associated tributaries were analyzed for Al, Fe, Ba, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Mn to examine the probable continued impact of past mining activities on the Rappahannock River Basin.

Surface sediment grab samples were collected from upstream, mid and downstream of a tributary that drains the Kelly gold mine area. Additional surface and sediment core samples were also taken at sites in the lower reaches of the Rappahannock. Preliminary results shows higher trace metal concentration near the mine sites and at the lower reaches of the main river. ¹³⁷Cs was used in chronological analysis as well as sediment accumulation rate estimates on two sediment cores taken from depositional sites at Hicks Landing (0.71cm/yr) and Blandfield Point (0.54 cm/yr) to provide the historical context to trace metals loading in relation to old mining activities. The core results show high concentrations prior to 1963, also supported by a magnetic susceptibility profile,which we interpret to be from the mining period; and modern elevation near the top of both cores from recent anthropogenic activities