Challenges of Groundwater Quality Degradation in the Past Decades: Clues from Water–Minerals Interaction, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Groundwater is essential globally for human consumption, habitat maintenance, human society development, and the functioning of ecosystems. As a resource, groundwater is gaining increasing importance, especially in arid/semi-arid regions where surface waters are very scarce or absent. However, in the past few decades, with the rapid increase in population, the vigorous development of socioeconomy, and the growing number of abandoned coal mines worldwide, especially the continuous emergence of legacy issues such as acid mine drainage, the degradation of groundwater quality has been accelerating at an alarming rate and posing a major health risk for many people worldwide. Essentially, groundwater quality is largely a function of mineral composition, the formation of which results in water–mineral interaction. Many professionals believe that sharing knowledge and experiences of water–mineral interaction that controls groundwater quality degradation is an effective strategy to identify and promote optimal approaches to the assessment, development and management of groundwater resources.

A very successful Special Issue of Minerals, “Challenges of Groundwater Quality Degradation in the Past Decades: Clues from Water–Minerals Interaction”, explored novel methodologies for assessing groundwater quality pollution, including hydrochemical analysis, isotope studies, and statistical approaches like PCA. These studies provided valuable insights into the water–rock interactions contributing to groundwater quality deterioration in carbonate formations under urbanization impacts. Building on these findings, we invite submissions to a second volume on the same topic. In light of the changing environment of the past few decades (e.g., global climatic changes, changes in land use patterns, and the growing global demand for clean energy, especially with the depletion of coal resources leading to the closure of coal mines) and the rapid emergence of geochemical innovations (e.g., multi-isotopes, modeling and big data analysis), the current edition investigates innovative approaches, water–rock–gas interactions, and microbial mediated geochemical processes for groundwater quality deterioration in aquifers, especially those affected by coal mining. Water pollution treatment technologies are also welcomed. By addressing these fundamental scientific questions and applied environmental challenges, this Special Issue aims to present a comprehensive and up-to-data collection of research on groundwater quality degradation.

Prof. Dr. Xubo Gao
Prof. Dr. Chengcheng Li
Prof. Dr. Qianqian Yu
Guest Editors

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• water–mineral interaction
• groundwater
• coal-mine water
• environmental biogeochemistry

• Challenges of Groundwater Quality Degradation in the Past Decades: Clues from Water–Minerals Interaction in Minerals (6 articles)