{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,13]],"date-time":"2026-01-13T21:43:11Z","timestamp":1768340591669,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,15]],"date-time":"2021-05-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621036800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT \u2013 Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","award":["Nano-MINENV 029259 (PTDC\/CTA-AMB\/29259\/2017)."],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Nano-MINENV 029259 (PTDC\/CTA-AMB\/29259\/2017)."]}]},{"name":"FCT \u2013 Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","award":["UIDB\/04683\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/04683\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT \u2013 Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","award":["UIDP\/04683\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDP\/04683\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Geosciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Picoto mining area is in the village of Vilar Seco (Viseu), central Portugal. Mineralization occurs mainly in quartz veins with meta-torbernite and uranophane and some U-bearing minerals, cutting a Variscan granite. Exploitation took place in two phases, between 1917 and 1953, and since the closure, the area has never been remediated. Water\u2013rock interaction processes, including the mobility of potentially toxic elements through soil and water (surface and groundwater), were identified with the determination in situ of physicochemical parameters and selected anions and cations, by ICP-OES. The soils are contaminated with As (&gt;44 mg\/kg), Cu (&gt;23 mg\/kg), and U (&gt;40 mg\/kg) and cannot be used for agricultural or domestic purposes. The waters are generally weakly mineralized and have pH values ranging from acidic to neutral. However, some of them are contaminated with NO2 (up to 2.3 mg\/L), Fe (up to 1849 mg\/L), Mn (up to 777 mg\/L), Cu (up to 5.4 \u00b5g\/L), As (up to 14.7 \u00b5g\/L), and U (up to 66.2 \u00b5g\/L) and cannot be used for human consumption or agricultural activities. The soil and water contamination are mainly related to the old mine activities and the subsequent human activities that have developed in the area.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/geosciences11050217","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,16]],"date-time":"2021-05-16T23:17:16Z","timestamp":1621207036000},"page":"217","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Water-Rock Interaction and Potential Contamination Risk in a U-Enriched Area"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3456-5926","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Margarida","family":"Antunes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Sciences, Campus de Gualtar, ICT\/University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0884-2600","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geology and Pole of the Geosciences Centre (CGeo), University of Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8782-6133","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teresa","family":"Albuquerque","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CERNAS|QRural\/Polytechnique Institute of Castelo Branco, 6000-084 Castelo Branco, Portugal"},{"name":"Institute of Earth Sciences, ICT\/University of \u00c9vora, 7000-849 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7293-3825","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teresa","family":"Valente","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth Sciences, Campus de Gualtar, ICT\/University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3767-5410","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, 3001-456 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ant\u00f3nio","family":"Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"GeoBioTec, Department of Geosciences, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.1016\/j.crte.2010.12.005","article-title":"Environmental mineralogy\u2013Understanding element behavior in ecosystems","volume":"343","author":"Brown","year":"2011","journal-title":"C. 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