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Prince William Forest Park, Virginia

The goals of this research have been threefold.

• Understand the environmental behavior of solid-mine wastes from a volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit and the impact on the ecosystem.
• Assess the success of the reclamation effort by the National Park Service at the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine through ground and surface water sampling. Toward this end, ground- and surface-water samples were collected on a quarterly basis for one year, ending in the fall of 1998. In addition, documentation of the relationship of surface water quality in artificial ponds formed during reclamation to amphibian population restoration was conducted in collaboration with a herpetologist from the National Park Service. The project has collected and analyzed monthly water samples for more than two mating seasons.
• Investigate the environmental impact of historic mercury amalgamation used at the abandoned Greenwood Mine site, which is on a 43-acre tract recently acquired by the National Park Service. The chemical characterization includes dissolved inorganic constituents of waters; stable isotope analysis of waters and solids; and mineralogical studies of ores, country rocks and precipitates. Interpretation includes quantitative modeling of water chemistry to determine the mineralogical controls on heavy-metal solubility and major-element water chemistry.

Reclaimed tailings pile at the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, Prince William Forest Park.

Products

Seal, R.R., II, Haffner, D.P., and Meier, A.L., 1998,

Environmental characteristics of the abandoned Greenwood mine area, Prince William Forest Park, Virginia: Implications for mercury geochemistry: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 98-326, 19 p.

Seal, R.R., II, Haffner, D.P., and Meier, A.L., 1998,

Geochemical data including mercury speciation for surface waters at the abandoned Greenwood mine area, Prince William Forest Park, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 98-756, 14 p.

Seal, R.R., II, Haffner, D.P., and Meier, A.L., 1999,

Methylmercury in surface waters around an abandoned gold prospect in the Virginia gold-pyrite belt, northern Virginia [abs.]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs (SE), v. 31.

Seal, R.R., II, Haffner, D.P., and Meier, A.L., and Pollio, C.A., 1999,

Ground- and Surface- Water Geochemical Insights into the Behavior of Limestone Amendment at the Reclaimed Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, Prince William Forest Park, Virginia [abs.]: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, p. A-333

Wynn, Jeff, 2000,

A Ground Electromagnetic Survey Used to Map Sulfides and Acid Sulfate Ground Waters at the Abandoned Cabin Branch Mine, Prince William Forest Park, Northern Virginia Gold-Pyrite Belt: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-360.

Collaborators

Collaborators include the National Park Service (Geologic Resources Division and Prince William Forest Park), George Mason University, George Washington University, and Glatfelter Pulp Wood Company.