Selenium in fly ash

Journal Article · Fri Mar 05 04:00:00 EST 1976 · Science; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1251212· OSTI ID:7366127

Gutenmann, W H; Bache, C A; Youngs, W D; Lisk, D J

Selenium, at concentrations exceeding 200 parts per million (ppM) (dry weight), has been found in white sweet clover voluntarily growing on beds of fly ash in central New York State. Guinea pigs fed such clover concentrated selenium in their tissues. The contents of the honey stomachs of bees foraging on this seleniferous clover contained negligible selenium. Mature vegetables cultured on 10 percent (by weight) fly ash-amended soil absorbed up to 1 ppM of selenium. Fly ashes from 21 states contained total selenium contents ranging from 1.2 to 16.5 ppM. Cabbage grown on soil containing 10 percent (by weight) of these fly ashes absorbed selenium (up to 3.7 ppM) in direct proportion (correlation coefficient r = .89) to the selenium concentration in the respective fly ash. Water, aquatic weeds, algae, dragonfly nymphs, polliwogs, and tissues of bullheads and muskrats from a fly ash-contaminated pond contained concentrations of selenium markedly elevated over those of controls.

• Research Organization: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY
• OSTI ID: 7366127
• Journal Information: Science; (United States), Journal Name: Science; (United States) Vol. 191:4230; ISSN SCIEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AEROSOL WASTES
ALGAE
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ARTHROPODS
BIOMASS
CLOVER
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FISHES
FLY ASH
FOOD
GUINEA PIGS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INSECTS
INVERTEBRATES
LEGUMINOSAE
MAMMALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
POLLUTION
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RODENTS
SELENIUM
SEMIMETALS
VEGETABLES
VERTEBRATES
WASTES
WATER