Abstract
The cycling of lead in estuaries involves a complex exchange between dissolved and paniculate phases. In macrotidal estuaries such as the Gironde (France), dissolved lead is adsorbed onto particles due to an increase in turbidity and in the specific surface area of particles in the tidal estuary. In the lower estuary a mobilization of exchangeable and carbonate lead occurs simultaneously with a coagulation of organic dissolved lead associated with iron–manganese hydrous oxides. The lead-depleted particles are subsequently recycled to the tidal estuary by landward currents, where they become mixed with fresh river-borne particles. Lead isotopic ratios and paniculate lead speciation studies indicate that in this estuary the mixing of polluted particles with old deposits probably has a minor role in the decrease in paniculate lead.
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Elbaz-Poulichet, F., Holliger, P., Wen Huang, W. et al. Lead cycling in estuaries, illustrated by the Gironde estuary, France. Nature 308, 409–414 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308409a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308409a0
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