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The U.S. Geological Service will hold a free public lecture on its Menlo Park campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 26, about the Iron Mountain acid mine drainage site, an EPA Superfund site in the Klamath Mountains above Redding.
There will be a noon preview for those who cannot attend in the evening.
Charles Alpers, a research chemist, will speak about the toxic runoff that has been draining from the mine since 1899. Alpers has worked with the USGS since 1991 on water-quality investigations and analysis of historical mining sites, and much of his research focuses on metal contamination.
The Iron Mountain Mine, also known as the Richmond Mine at Iron Mountain, is a 4,400-acre mine established in the 1860s and in operation until 1963. The mine is located in the Klamath Mountains in Shasta County, about 9 miles northwest of Redding.
As it was mined, the mountain fractured and pyrite deposits were exposed to surface water and oxygen, creating toxic sulfuric acid that continues to seep out of the mine, killing off plant life several kilometers in all directions, according to the USGS.
The acid also flows into Spring Creek and Keswick Reservoirs, main sources of drinking water for Redding residents. Toxic runoff has been killing fish native to the Sacramento River since 1902 and poses a threat to wildlife in surrounding areas, the USGS says.
The site is one of the most polluted places on Earth, with acid puddles that can melt metal, rocks that sometimes catch fire and mine temperatures that go up to 130 degrees, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
In 1983, the site was included in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program to clean up hazardous pollutants. Although 98 percent of the runoff has been captured, it will continue for thousands of years, and there is no known way of neutralizing the acid, according to the Chronicle.
Lectures are held in the Rambo Auditorium in Building 3 on the USGS campus at 345 Middlefield Road. For more information visit usgs.gov.
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