This HOT article from Orsolya Klebercz and co-workers from Hungary and the UK discusses the ecotoxicity of fluvial sediments that resulted from the spillage of bauxite processing residue (red mud) in Ajka, Hungary.
The team carried out physico-chemical analyses on a number of samples taken from sites downstream of the spill. Biological characterisation and ecotoxicity testing was also carried out on a number of test species, including the Vibrio fischeri luminescence inhibition test, the Sinapis alba root and shoot growth inhibition test and the Heterocypris incongruens mortality test.
Adverse effects were recorded across a range of trophic levels at the different sample sites, although the microbial activity was shown to have increased. Lemna minor was shown to be a useful test species when assessing the impact of red mud contamination.
Read more about the study here – the paper is free to access for 4 weeks:
Ecotoxicity of fluvial sediments downstream of the Ajka red mud spill, Hungary
Orsolya Klebercz, William M. Mayes, Áron Dániel Anton, Viktória Feigl, Adam P. Jarvis and Katalin Gruiz
DOI: 10.1039/C2EM30155E
