Diagenetic metal profiles in recent sediments of a Scottish freshwater loch

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Environmental Geology and Water Sciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01737878· OSTI ID:41816

Williams, T M ^[1]

---

1. British Geological Survey, Nottingham (United Kingdom)

Integrated total elemental, phase-specific, and pore-water analyses of sediment cores from Loch Ba, Scotland, show that early diagenetic processes have promoted extensive metal enrichment immediately beneath the sediment-water interface. The accumulation of Mn, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Co in sedimentary solids upward of 3 cm depth is accompanied by an increasing residence of these elements in adsorbed and hydrous oxide phases. Such phases are formed through oxidative precipitation from the interstitial pore fluids, following the upward migration of metals from more deeply buried, anaerobic sectors of the sediment pile. There is good evidence that Fe and Ni are subject to similar influences, although their total abundances near the sediment surface are less conspicuously modified. In the Loch Ba sediments, the oxic conditions promoting metal precipitation are entirely confined to strata of postindustrial age. In the absence of fully diagnostic pore-water and sequential chemical data, similar diagenetic profiles could plausibly be misinterpreted as the product of anthropogenic contamination. 41 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 41816
• Journal Information: Environmental Geology and Water Sciences, Journal Name: Environmental Geology and Water Sciences Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 20; ISSN EGWSEI; ISSN 0177-5146
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COBALT
CONTAMINATION
COPPER
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
LAKES
LEAD
MANGANESE
METALS
SEDIMENTS
UNITED KINGDOM
ZINC