Sdw. Comber et al., COMPARISON OF THE PARTITIONING OF TRACE-METALS IN THE HUMBER AND MERSEY ESTUARIES, Marine pollution bulletin, 30(12), 1995, pp. 851-860
Studies into the partitioning of trace metals between the dissolved ph
ase and suspended solids have been performed on two major UK estuaries
, the Mersey and the Humber. Aqueous phase trace metal concentrations
were determined, along with partitioning data (K-p) determined from bo
th laboratory equilibration experiments and by chemical leaching techn
iques. Dissolved trace metals in the Humber essentially exhibited cons
ervative behaviour (or a slight positive deviation). In the Mersey, ho
wever, removal of zinc, chromium, and, in particular, copper and cadmi
um occurred in the low salinity region. Sequential extraction data gav
e an indication of the nature of trace metal bindings to suspended sed
iment, and revealed total extractable trace metals on the Mersey suspe
nded sediment to be a factor of two greater than that found in the Hum
ber. Similarly, partition coefficients in the Mersey were approximatel
y an order of magnitude greater than in the Dumber, Chloro-complexatio
n was shown to control the partitioning of cadmium within estuaries. C
opper, however, exhibited a distinct trend of increasing K-p with incr
easing salinity.