Formation, Fate, and Transformation of Toxic Heavy Metal Minerals (U, Pb, As, Cr, Se and Hg) in the Environment

Dear Colleagues,

Exposure to heavy metals such as lead (Pb), arsenic (As), uranium (U), chromium (Cr), selenium (Se), and mercury (Hg) has long been identified as a threat to human health. Though these threats are known, exposure to toxic heavy metals continues to rise all over the world. A few of the many possible means of exposure are heavy metal contamination in drinking water through corrosion scales in distribution systems, heavy metal accumulation in urban stormwater runoff, and proximity exposure to mining and mill tailings. An attribute common to most toxic heavy metals and their exposure media is their ability to mobilize after undergoing redox transformations. Therefore, to mitigate such toxic heavy metals, it is critical to fundamentally understand their behavior under environmentally relevant conditions. Specifically, it is important to understand their formation, fate, transformation, and transport that constantly drive such contamination processes. Taking into consideration the urgent need for high-quality research on this topic, we would like to introduce a special platform in Minerals that welcomes investigations focused on the formation, fate, transformation, and transport of synthesized and natural toxic heavy metal minerals, including research areas in geology, minerology, crystal chemistry, environmental toxicology, resource recovery, mineral synthesis, mining legacy, mill tailings, site reclamation, remediation, mining, surface/ground water contamination, biogeochemical reactions, redox transformations, reactions at the soil–water interface, and toxic heavy metal minerals in the air.

Dr. Sumant Avasarala
Dr. Tyler L. Spano
Dr. Saglara Mandzhieva
Guest Editors

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