Blowin' in the wind: Mapping the dispersion of Metal(loid)s from Atacama Mining

Raw data from elemental and mineralogical analyses of surface sediments from Alto El Loa, Antofagasta Region, Chile.

Blowin' in the wind: Mapping the dispersion of Metal(loid)s from Atacama Mining

Authors: Nicolás C. Zanetta-Colombo1,2 *, Carlos A. Manzano3,4 , Dagmar Brombierstäudl1, Zoë L. Fleming5,6, Eugenia M. Gayo6,7, David A. Rubinos8, Óscar Jerez9, Jorge Valdés10, Manuel Prieto11,12, Marcus Nüsser1,2

1 Department of Geography, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

2 Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

3 Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

4 School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

5 Centro de Investigación en Tecnologías para la Sociedad, Universidad Del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile.

6 Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2, Chile.

7 Departamento de Geografía, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

8 Sustainable Minerals Institute–International Centre of Excellence Chile (SMI-ICE-Chile), The University of Queensland, Australia, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.

9 Instituto de Geología Económica Aplicada (GEA), University of Concepción, Chile. Barrio Universitario S/N, Concepción, Chile.

10 Laboratorio de Sedimentología y Paleoambientes (LASPAL), Instituto de Ciencias Naturales Alexander von Humboldt, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y de Recursos Biológicos, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile.

11 Millenium Nucleus in Andean Peatlands (AndesPeat), Chile

12 Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas, Universidad de Tarapacá, 18 de Septiembre 2222, Arica, Chile

Data Set 1 (ds1): Elemental concentrations (mg/kg) of metal(loid)s in surface sediment samples. The dataset also includes geographic coordinates (LONG, LAT), distance to the nearest mines (Dist_mines), distance to tailings (Dist_tailing), and buffer zone classifications for tailings (Buffer_T) and mines (Buffer_M).

Data set 2 (ds2): Mineralogical composition of selected surface sediment samples.