EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Mine Seepage

Abandoned Coal Mine
Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Norway

Explanation:  Here on the Adventdalen Hills east of the village of Longyearbyen, on the island of Spitsbergen, in the far arctic Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, appears a striking reminder of times past.  Staining this steep gully red is the runoff from a defunct coal mine, one of many dug into the hillsides.  We visited a mockup of a coal mine display in the local museum in Longyearbyen, in a previous EPOW episode.  

The red stain is likely an iron oxide runoff from the abandoned mining activities, but other toxic exudates may also emanate from old mine sites.  

Defunct mine, left fallow, on Adventdalen Hills, Svalbard.

To this day, Russian coal mines are still operational on the island, which also has a long history of many international interests in various extraction activities and industries.  Recently, however, monitoring the implications of extraction activities seems to be becoming more of a regulatory challenge.  

Operational coal mine still active on the Adentdalen hillsides. 

Broader view of the Adventalen hills location of the "leaking" abandoned mine site. 
It is unclear, far as I can research, whether this has entered the waterway below
and affected soil health or any plants or animals there.