Natural and Technogenic Mineral Formation in the Aquifer of the Amur-Tunguska Interfluves

Abstract

Changes in mineralogical composition occurring in the course of preparation of drinking water in-situ are studied based on the data from the monitoring wells of the Tunguska groundwater intake. Intensive dissolution of feldspars, pyroxenes, siderite, and, to a lesser extent, quartz with the formation of secondary minerals (amorphous silica, clay minerals, and secondary siderite) occur in the aquifer of the Tunguska intake. In addition, solid products of the destruction are formed, including microfragments of minerals, which together with the primary clay, secondary minerals, and oxides and hydroxides of iron and manganese that originated in the process of intralayer oxidation of water, participate in the colmatation of cracks and the slit space of the well filters. Regeneration actions result only in a partial recovery of the specific flow rate of the wells, since the hydrochloric acid used in them leaches only the oxide–hydroxide part of the colmatant, leaving virtually unchanged its aluminosilicate component.