Throughout the semester, a new area of pollution is looked at every week. Similarly, I hope to do the same here at this blogsite, by writing a blog post that is aligned with every week’s topic. On top of that, keep an eye on a blog post of recent events of festivities. This week, I’ll be looking at – Pollution Chemistry.
Mica is any group of hydrous potassium, an aluminum silicate mineral. We are may be more familiar with mica than we realised – take a look at your beauty products. Mica is referred to as ‘nature’s glitter’ due to its reflective properties, used to a touch of shimmer and sparkle in the products that we adore. While mica beautifies our appearance, that’s not the case for our environment. Among the negative impacts that the use of mica has on our environment, this blog post will be focusing on the pollution of surface and groundwaters.
The creation of open pits induces exposes heavy metal. Metal pollution is caused when these metals contained in excavated rock or exposed in an underground mine come in contact with water. They leached out and carried downstream as water washes over the rock surface, subsequently depositing into nearby streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater. A study of groundwater samples was also conducted in the mica mining areas of Jharkhand, with metal analysis revealing that Al, Fe, and Mn surpassing the Indian water quality standards for drinking (Giri et al., 2021). This study advocates the groundwater to be unfit for drinking, due to the presence of these metals that are known to be associated with mica minerals.
With the environmental impacts of the beauty industry, it may be time to take a look at your favorite brands. Just from the beauty products you have at home, you’ll be surprised at how many of them contain mica just from the speck of sparkle.
References
Giri, S., Bharat, A. P., & Singh, A. K. (2021). Metal contamination of groundwater in the mica mining areas of Jharkhand: Assessing seasonal variation, sources and human health risk. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 0(0), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2021.1983555