Abstract
IN natural waters throughout the world1, iron concentrations are commonly several orders of magnitude greater than the equilibrium solubility of iron hydroxide2. Highly coloured waters (which have relatively high concentrations of organic matter) commonly have even greater iron concentrations. Two of the chemical species postulated to account for this phenomenon are: (1) fine colloidal particles of iron hydroxide (possibly associated with colloidal organic matter) and (2) dissolved complexes of iron with naturally occurring organic substances. While the existence of colloidal iron hydroxide in natural waters is widely accepted3, there is little conclusive evidence for or against the existence of dissolved organic complexes of iron. We wish to present evidence which suggests that dissolved organic matter forms complexes not only with iron but also with aluminium, with competition between Fe and Al for available complexing sites determining the relative abundances of the two metals in natural waters.
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PERDUE, E., BECK, K. & HELMUT REUTER, J. Organic complexes of iron and aluminium in natural waters. Nature 260, 418–420 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260418a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260418a0
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