AMOUNTS AND SOURCES OF FLUORIDE IN PRECIPITATION OVER SOUTHERN NORWAY

Fluoride is a ligand which forms complexes with Al3+ in natural waters with relatively low pH. It is not well established the extent to whic h fluoride in precipitation is primarily recycled from sea water, deri ved from dust or volcanic emissions or has an anthropogenic origin. Th e average concentration of F- as determined by ion chromatography assu ming no interference with simple organic acids in over five hundred sa mples of precipitation collected at four sampling stations in southern Norway in 1983, is 20 mu gl(-1). A comparison of the concentrations a nd amounts of fluoride measured in the precipitation samples with inte rnally consistent measurements of other components such as Cl- Br-, an d SO42- on the same samples using correlation analysis, indicates that a major portion of the fluoride, i.e. more than 90%, have a non-marin e origin.