Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > MF > MF07056
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(1)

Geochemistry of Cu, Zn and Fe in the Tambo River, Australia I. Oxidation of Fe(II)-rich water entering the river

Barry T. Hart A B and Tina Hines A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Water Studies Centre and School of Chemistry, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: barry.hart@waterscience.com.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 59(1) 72-79 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF07056
Submitted: 15 March 2007  Accepted: 7 September 2007   Published: 25 January 2008

Abstract

The behaviour of Fe, Cu and Zn was studied during the laboratory oxidation of an acidic (pH 5.8) sample of naturally contaminated water from the Tambo River (Victoria, Australia). Changes in the concentrations of the dissolved, colloidal and particulate fractions of these metals were followed over 288 h. The initial concentrations of dissolved Cu (18.5 mg L–1) and Zn (22.6 mg L–1) were ~15-fold greater than that of the dissolved Fe (1.13 mg L–1). Dissolved Fe was completely removed from solution in 60 h, with removal following the well established first order oxidation kinetics for Fe(II). A relatively small amount of the dissolved Cu (18%) and dissolved Zn (14%) was removed from the solution, although the removal mechanisms appear to be different. A ‘co-precipitation-surface precipitation’ mechanism is proposed to explain the behaviour of the Cu and Zn, with Cu(II), Zn(II) and Fe(III) co-precipitating to form colloidal Fe(OH)3-Cu(OH)2-Zn(OH)2 particles following the initial oxidation of Fe(II) to Fe(III).

Additional keywords: contamination, co-precipitation-surface precipitation, heavy metals, hydrous iron oxide, kinetics.


Acknowledgements

Macquarie Resources Ltd funded the present study and also provided a scholarship for TH. We are grateful to Jovo Basic, Paul Dowd, Craig Jeffs and Hugh Stein of Macquarie Resources Ltd for their support and assistance, and to Steven Hines for his assistance particularly with the fieldwork. BTH thanks the University of Western Australia for awarding him a Senior Gledden Fellowship and to the Centre for Water Research at UWA for providing him facilities during which time this paper was completed.


References

Balistrieri L. S., Bookstrom A. A., Box S. E., and Ikramuddin M. (1998). ‘The geochemistry of water draining from the adits and tailings piles in the Coeur d'Alene mining district.’ Open file report 98–127, US Geological Survey, Washington DC.

Bigham, J. M. , Schwertmann, U. , Traina, S. J. , Winland, R. L. , and Wolf, M. (1996). Schwertmannite and the chemical modelling of iron in acid sulfate waters. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 2111–2121.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Dzombak D. A., and Morel F. M. M. (1990). ‘Surface Complexation Modelling.’ (John Wiley: New York.)

Emmenegger, L. , King, D. W. , Sigg, L. , and Sulzberger, B. (1998). Oxidation of Fe(II) in a eutrophic Swiss lake. Environmental Science & Technology 32, 2990–2996.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hart B. T., and Hines T. (1995). Trace elements in rivers. In ‘Trace Elements in Natural Water’. (Eds B. Salbu and E. Steines.) pp. 203–221. (CRC Press: London.)

Hart, B. T. , Sdraulig, S. , and Jones, M. J. (1992). Behaviour of copper and zinc added to the Tambo River, Australia by a metal-enriched spring. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 43, 457–489.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hart B. T., Beckett R., Murphy D., and Ranville J. (1997). Role of colloids in cycling contaminants in rivers, In ‘Biogeochemistry of Trace Metals’. (Eds D. C. Adriano, Z. S. Chen, S. S. Yang and I. K. Iskandar.) pp. 193–216. (Applied Science Publishers: Norwood, UK.)

Hart B. T., Hines T., and Coller B. A. W. (2008). Geochemistry of Cu, Zn and Fe in the Tambo River, Australia, II. Field study under very low flow conditions. Marine and Freshwater Research59, 80–88.

Harvey, D. T. , and Linton, R. W. (1984). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of adsorbed zinc on amorphous hydrous ferric oxide. Colloids and Surfaces 11, 81–96.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hines T. (1995). The fate of Cu and Zn in the Tambo River. M.Sc. Thesis, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton.

Johnson, C. A. (1986). The regulation of trace element concentrations in river and estuarine waters contaminated with acid mine drainage: The adsorption of Cu and Zn on amorphous Fe oxyhydroxides. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50, 2433–2438.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Kimball, B. E., Broshears, R. E., Bencala, K. E., and McKnight, D. M. (1994). Coupling of hydrologic transport and chemical reactions in a stream affected by acid mine drainage. Environmental Science and Technology 28, 2065–2073.

King, D. W. , Lounsbury, H. A. , and Millero, F. J. (1995). Rates and mechanism of Fe(II) oxidation at nanomolar total iron concentrations. Environmental Science & Technology 29, 818–824.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Macquarie Resources Ltd (1989). ‘Benambra Project Water Quality and Hydrological Investigations.’ Report by Centre for Stream Ecology, Chisholm Institute of Technology and Centre for Environmental Applied Hydrology, Melbourne University, Melbourne.

Morel F. M. M. (1983). ‘Principles of Aquatic Chemistry.’ (John Wiley: New York.)

Muller B. (2000). ‘ChemEQL, V2.0.’ (Limnological Research Institute, EAWAG, Kastanienbaum: Switzerland.) (http://www.eawag.ch/research/surf/forschung/chemeql.html.)

Neilsen A. E. (1964). ‘Kinetics of Precipitation.’ (MacMillan Publishing: New York.)

Rose, A. L. , and Waite, T. D. (2002). Kinetic model for Fe(II) oxidation in seawater in the absence and presence of natural organic matter. Environmental Science & Technology 36, 433–444.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Stumm W., and Morgan J. J. (1996). ‘Aquatic Chemistry.’ 3rd edn. (John Wiley and Sons: New York.)

Swedlund, P. J. , and Webster, J. G. (2001). Cu and Zn ternary surface complex formation with SO4 on ferrihydrite and schwertmannite. Applied Geochemistry 16, 503–511.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Waychunas, G. A., Rea, B. A., Fuller, C. C., and Davis, J. A. (1993). Surface chemistry of ferrihydrite, I. EXAFS studies of the geometry of coprecipitated and adsorbed arsenate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 57, 2251–2269.

Waychunas, G. A. , Fuller, C. C. , and Davis, J. A. (2002). Surface complexation and precipitate geometry for aqueous Zn(II) sorption of ferrihydrite I: X-ray adsorption extended fine structure spectroscopy analysis. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66, 1119–1137.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Younger P. L., Banwart S. A., and Hedin R. S. (2002). ‘Mine Water: Hydrology, Pollution and Remediation.’ (Kluwer Academic Publishing: Berlin.)

Zhu, C. (2002). Estimation of surface precipitation constants for sorption of divalent metals onto hydrous ferric oxide and calcite. Chemical Geology 188, 23–32.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |