Methodology for determining the toxic chemical species of copper in toxicity experiments and natural waters

Conference · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6722074

Cowan, C E; Jenne, E A; Kinnison, R R

Most researchers have concluded that the uncomplexed Cu ion is the primary toxic or bioavailable species while others have suggested that hydroxide, carbonate and organically complexed species may also be toxic. Because the computed activities of the aqueous Cu species are both highly dependent on the thermodynamic data used and highly correlated with each other, it is difficult to show definitively that the individual chemical species-toxicity correlations are valid and it is virtually impossible to determine the statistical relationship between toxicity and copper aqueous speciation using traditional statistical methods. The proposed methodology consists of first computing the aqueous speciation of Cu using the geochemical model, MINTEQ, with a thoroughly reviewed and partially validated thermodynamic data base for Cu. Finally, multivariate statistical techniques applicable to collinear data and underdetermined systems are applied to the activities of the Cu species and the toxicity measurements to determine the relationship between the speciation and toxicity. A reevaluation using this methodology indicates that the primary bioavailable species are the hydroxide species and that the carbonate and phosphate species are not toxic. Based on the results of the statistical analyses and the properties of the statistical techniques, it appears that a combination of factor analysis and ridge regression yield the most information about the structure of the collinearities and provide estimates of the coefficients and the bias. 35 references, 1 figure, 1 table.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6722074
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-11975; CONF-8406143-1; ON: DE84013408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560304* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Invertebrates-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
ARTHROPODS
BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY
BRANCHIOPODS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATES
CATIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COMPLEXES
COMPUTER CODES
COPPER CARBONATES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER HALIDES
COPPER HYDROXIDES
COPPER NITRATES
COPPER PHOSPHATES
COPPER SULFATES
CRUSTACEANS
DAPHNIA
DATA
DISPERSIONS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
INFORMATION
INVERTEBRATES
IONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MIXTURES
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHATES
PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
SOLUTIONS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TOXICITY
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
VALENCE