Atmospheric Pollution in Mining Areas
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 July 2025 | Viewed by 2746
Special Issue Editor
Interests: soil science; environmental radioactivity; environmental chemistry; mining engineering; environmental engineering; groundwater; remediation technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Mining activities are fundamental to a thriving society, as they supply essential resources that drive global development. However, mining operations can cause air pollution at every stage, which greatly affects the health of workers and nearby communities. Both above-ground and underground mining operations generate air pollution, producing harmful aerosols like particulate matter, arsenic, and diesel emissions. A major source of this pollution comes from mineral extraction activities, including excavation, blasting, and transport. Exhaust emissions from the vehicles and heavy equipment used in mining operations also contribute to these pollution levels. Nevertheless, in general, the most critical emissions from mining activities are particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), heavy metals and radionuclides.
Abandoned mines are also a recurrent problem for nearby communities around former mining areas. Different airborne contamination sources (such as tailings) may be continuously dispersed by wind around the surrounding environment, affecting flora, fauna, water, air and soil. Therefore, comprehensive understanding of these chemical, physical and biological processes is essential to assess the extension and effects of air pollution around mining areas, which should be based on a holistic approach.
This Special Issue aims to present research on issues related to air pollution in mining areas (active, abandoned or remediated). Research results, practical experiences, alternatives and new approaches are welcome, dealing with (but not limited to) the following: i) air pollutants and their sources; ii) air quality monitoring; iii) modeling dispersion, transport and fate; iv) innovative techniques and emission-management systems; v) life cycle assessments of mining and metallurgical processes; vi) applications of machine learning models to reduce emissions; vii) the influence of climate changes on air quality; viii) occupational and environmental exposure; ix) environmental risk assessment; and x) socioeconomic issues related to air quality in mining areas.
Other emerging topics in this field of research are also welcome. Thus, we encourage you to submit your original research or review papers.
Dr. Maria de Lurdes Dinis
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- particulate matter
- radionuclides
- heavy metals
- monitoring
- air quality
- modeling
- machine learning
- life cycle assessment
- climate changes
- socioeconomics
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