Ironstone mining in the wyke beck valley

[Hector]

Apologies, I think I may have got the pit ownership wrong. Just a quick comment about the colour of water in Wykebeck. I remember several years coming up from the Red Road, which runs from The Bridgefield and from the junction with Halton Moor Avenue, then beomesa private road running up to Halton Moor (and eventually Temple Newsam) Anyway the road crosses the beck and the water was a distinct brown/orange colour.

[chameleon]

Brandy wrote: Theres a natural spring running from a culvert in the woods marked by the red cross.I remember when i was working as a labourer on the asda site and we had the job to re-route the stream under the road and an old irish guy told me that the orange horrible looking discharge around spring was in fact iron traces in the water.Seems he was telling the truth after all! Remember that Brandy, the resultant stram ran down to Wykebeck, though I seem to remember it wasn't always active.Culverted now of course as you know but I presume the artificial lake behind the trees to the west of the access road is anintermediary stage before it disappears again.Used to be Showjumping in that field every August Bank Holiday. Remember walking along the top of the wall too which actually went round a tree at the footpath edge - it's still there but the wall has been rebuilt a little differently, just next to the slip road before the lights.

[grumpytramp]

Hector wrote: I remember when i was working as a labourer on the asda site and we had the job to re-route the stream under the road and an old irish guy told me that the orange horrible looking discharge around spring was in fact iron traces in the water.Seems he was telling the truth after all! and Hector wrote: Anyway the road crosses the beck and the water was a distinct brown/orange colour. The orange/yellow discoloration that you are observing in the becks or drain is probably a legacy of the areas mining history.This may be a wee bit sketchy but from what I can recall from years agoIt is the consequence of a phenomenon known as acid mine drainage (AMD) and is affect can be devastating of the freshwater environment. In the simplest terms as mines extended below the water table they pumped water out of the mine to allow the mining operation to continue unimpeded. This has an important impact in coal mines as one of the minerals that is routinely uncovered is iron pyrites in coal, shales and fireclay.Now in contact with the air it will begin to oxidise, as this reaction continues it generates heat and further accelerates the reaction (leading to the ultimate consequence if there is sufficient oxygen, heat and coal in spontaneous combustion). In oxidising the Iron Pyrites is converted to Iron (Fe2) Sulphate which is solvent in water. When the mines are abandoned and the water table rebounds to its natural level, that water dissolves the Iron Sulphide in the first instance Iron (Fe2) Sulphate and then Iron (Fe3) Sulphate. The reaction from Sulphide to Sulphate makes the water become acidic.It is when the water rebounds and there is a drainage route to the surface such as sough, tunnel, shaft etc and the water finds itself at the surface the real problems begin.Acidic water emerges at the surface with consequential damage on the freshwater habitat, then as it becomes more dilute downstream, the pH increases and the water is in contact with oxygen the previously soluble Iron (Fe3) Sulphate oxidises again and forms a precipitate of Iron Hydroxide. That is the horrible orange gunge.The process can occur naturally too and there a host of micro-organisms and bugs that thrive in that environment and will act as catalyst themselves.It is a serious problem in a lot of areas (and it is not just a legacy of coal and iron mining – the problem is in some respect worse in metal mines as a lot of other complex chemical reactions can occur creating complex and serious pollution problems.Orange gunge ends up carpeting the floors of watercourses killing most conventional aquatic life.

[chameleon]

You know, probably like most people, I've always taken these discharges to be akin to colloidal clay bubbling up in a very simplistic way and nothing more than 'nature', and never really thought of it in any technical way. Looking at it in terms of the chemistry gives a rather different view of the effects that some of our heritage has, even now, on our everyday life and the environment. I wonder how our actions of today will be viewed in 50 or 100 years time, when the ramifications of our burried waste for example, show themselves?

[The Parksider]

grumpytramp wrote: The orange/yellow discoloration that you are observing in the becks or drain is probably a legacy of the areas mining history.Orange gunge ends up carpeting the floors of watercourses killing most conventional aquatic life. Any idea on the variegated glassy green stone found in some mining/industrial sites possible as part of slag/cinders