Abstract
THE behaviour of chemical species in estuaries1 is important for several reasons. The extent of any modification of the riverborne flux of dissolved materials to the open sea, as a result of interactions during the mixing of fresh and saline waters, is of fundamental geochemical significance. Knowledge of the pathways of element transference in estuaries is needed to predict effects of waste inputs and other modifications of estuarine conditions. It is also in the estuarine zone that the limitations of the determination and modelling of chemical speciation become most acute, because of the wide range of major compositional variables and the importance of kinetic factors. Among the major problems is the uncertainty as to the true redox potentials of natural waters and the factors which can lead to the presence of thermodynamically unstable oxidation states. Recent work2,3 on selenium in seawater has indicated that the redox speciation of this element shows some differences from that predicted for an equilibrium system. We give here results of measurements of selenium in some river and estuarine waters of the Solent area. Available Se(IV) was detected in chalk streams but always accounted for less than 10% of the total dissolved selenium. Dissolved forms of selenium behaved essentially conservatively during estuarine mixing of chalk stream inputs.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burton, J. D. & Liss, P. S. (eds) Estuarine Chemistry (Academic, London, 1976).
Sugimura, Y., Suzuki, Y. & Miyake, Y. J. oceanogr. Soc. Japan 32, 235–241 (1976).
Yoshii, O., Hiraki, K., Nishikawa, Y. & Shigematsu, T. Bunseki Kagaku 26, 91–96 (1977).
Holliday, L. M. & Liss, P. S. Estuarine coastal mar. Sci. 4, 349–353 (1976).
Moore, R. M. thesis, Southampton Univ. (1978).
Measures, C. I. thesis, Southampton Univ. (1978).
Shimoishi, Y. Analytica chim. Acta 64, 465–468 (1973).
Gosink, T. A. & Reynolds, D. J. Mar. Sci. Comm. 1, 101–114 (1975).
Armstrong, F. A. J., Williams, P. M. & Strickland, J. D. H. Nature 211, 481–483 (1966).
Shuali, U., Ottolenghi, M., Rabani, J. & Yelin, Z. J. phys. Chem. 73, 3445–3451 (1969).
Leutwein, F. in Handbook of Geochemistry (ed. Wedepohl, K. H.) 2, Sections 34-G and 34-H (Springer, Berlin, 1972).
Sillén, L. in Oceanography (ed. Sears, M.) 549–581 (AAAS, Washington, D.C., 1961).
Breck, W. G. in The Sea 5 (ed. Goldberg, E. D.) 153–179 (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1974).
Kharkar, D. P., Turekian, K. K. & Bertine, K. K. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 32, 285–298 (1968).
Hiraki, K., Nishikawa, Y. & Shigematsu, T. Abstr. 26th int. Congr. pure appl. Chem. Part 1, 413 (1977).
Miyake, Y., Sugimura, Y. & Suzuki, Y. Abstr. 26th int. Congr. pure appl. Chem. Part 1, 414 (1977).
Turekian, K. K. in Handbook of Geochemistry (ed. Wedepohl, K. H.) 1, 297–323 (Springer, Berlin, 1969).
Livingstone, D. A. Prof. Pap. U.S. Geol. Surv. 440-G,
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MEASURES, C., BURTON, J. Behaviour and speciation of dissolved selenium in estuarine waters. Nature 273, 293–295 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/273293a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/273293a0
This article is cited by
-
Influences on tidal channel and aquaculture shrimp pond water chemical composition in Southwest Bangladesh
Geochemical Transactions (2021)
-
Identifying chemical sources of airborne contamination in lichen biomonitors through instrumental neutron activation analysis
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry (2008)
-
Metal speciation in biological fluids — a review
Microchimica Acta (1996)
-
A model framework for assessing the effects of selenium on aquatic ecosystems
Water, Air, and Soil Pollution (1991)
-
A Survey of selenium in the environment and a critical review of its determination at trace levels
Fresenius' Zeitschrift für Analytische Chemie (1983)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.