Geochemistry of natural acid rock drainage in the Judith Mountains, Montana, part 2: Seasonal and spatial trends in Chicago Gulch

Highlights: • Weathering of altered syenite porphyry creates natural acid rock drainage. • Concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, and thallium exceed regulatory standards. • Synoptic sampling reveals conservative vs. non-conservative behavior for solutes. • Solute fluxes (load divided by catchment area) are similar for four sub-drainages. • This study helps place constraints on pre-mining water quality at other field sites. Three streams radially draining Red Mountain, a prominent peak in the Judith Mountains of central Montana, are naturally acidic in their headwaters and experience a rise in pH as they transition from hydrothermally altered quartz monzonite to sedimentary bedrock in their lower reaches. A previous study (Williams et al., 2015) examined the geochemistry of two of these streams, Armells Creek and Collar Gulch, using detailed synoptic sampling with continuous tracer-injection. Here we present results of two synoptic sampling events in the third stream, Chicago Gulch. Data are compared between the three watersheds, and estimates of solute flux (load divided by watershed area) are presented. Filtered and unfiltered metal concentrations and loads are quantified with distance downstream in Chicago Gulch under low-flow (August) and high-flow (May) conditions. Headwater streams in the watershed have pH < 4 and extensive deposits of ferricrete and Fe-bog deposits. Weakly acidic springs (pH > 4) contain >10 mg/L of Fe²⁺ which quickly oxidizes and precipitates as hydrous ferric oxide (HFO), releasing protons that lower the pH of the stream. Geochemical modeling suggests the actively forming HFO is a mix of schwertmannite and ferrihydrite, both of which are slowly converting to goethite which cements the ferricrete deposits. White, hydrous aluminum oxide (HAO) flocs form where stream pH transitions from 5, and a comparison of filtered and unfiltered samples indicates strong partitioning of Cu and Pb into the suspended particles. Dissolved loads of Zn, Cd, Mn, and Tl (thallium) diminish slightly in the lower reaches of Chicago Gulch where pH rises above 7. All water samples collected in the upper reaches of Chicago Gulch exceed the US-EPA water quality standards for protection of aquatic life for Pb, Cd, Zn, and Cu, and human health standards for Tl. Lead concentrations are especially high in the headwaters of Chicago Gulch, indicating the possible presence of an unmined Pb-sulfide deposit. Estimates of the load of dissolved sulfate at baseflow conditions in each stream on Red Mountain, normalized to their respective surface areas of hydrothermally altered bedrock, are remarkably similar, and indicate a steady state pyrite oxidation rate of 11.9 mol FeS₂/h/km². Prediction of pre-modern pH using the methods of Nimick et al. (2009) indicates that the current pH regimes of all three streams draining Red Mountain are broadly similar to conditions when ancient ferricretes were deposited. Because the Judith Mountains were never glaciated in the Pleistocene, it is possible that similar hydro-geochemical conditions have existed in the area for 10's to 100's of thousands of years.