Geochemistry of trace elements

Altschuler, Z.S. (1980) The Geochemistry of Trace Elements in Marine Phosphorites, Parti Characteristic Abundances and Enrichment, SEPM Special Publication 29, SEPM, pp. 19-30. 

Boyle, E. A."The Marine Geochemistry of Trace Elements." Ph.D, Thesis,Mass. Inst. Tech.-Woods Hole Ocean.Inst., 156 p. 1976. 

In this chapter, we have tried to review the recent literature on trace elements in rivers, in particular by incorporating the results derived from recent ICP-MS measurements. We have favored a field approach by focusing on studies of natural hydrosystems. The basic questions which we want to address are the following What are the trace element levels in river waters What controls their abundance in rivers and fractionation in the weathering - - transport system Are trace elements, like major elements in rivers, essentially controlled by source-rock abundances What do we know about the chemical speciation of trace elements in water To what extent do colloids and interaction with solids regulate processes of trace elements in river waters Can we relate the geochemistry of trace elements in aquatic systems to the periodic table And finally, are we able to satisfactorily model and predict the behavior of most of the trace elements in hydrosystems ... 

GEOCHEMISTRY OF TRACE ELEMENTS IN CRUDE OILS, ALBERTA, CANADA... 

Hitchon, B., Filby, R. H., and Shah, K. R., Geochemistry of Trace Elements in Crude Oils, Alberta, Canada, The Role of Trace Metals in Petroleum, T.F. Yen, Ed., Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, MI, 1975. 

In geochemistry, the introduction of RMs did not take place until 1951 but, once RM usage became a regular part of geochemical analysis, the consequences were not far short of amazing. For many years geochemical analysts had been concerned about the accuracy of their determinations of major elements in rocks, but it was the potential of emission spectrometry for the determination of trace elements which set off the production of the first rock Certified Reference Materials (CRMs),... 

Swart PK (1980) The enviromnental geochemistry of scleractinian corals. An experimental study of trace element and stable isotope incorporation. PhD Dissertation, University of Londort, Londort, United... 

Soil geochemistry is widely applied in mineral exploration, and with advancing knowledge of speciation and residence phases of trace elements in soils, a variety of partial and selective extractions for chemical analysis have been developed over the past decades. Each of these methods has been designed to target and dissolve only those elements that are adsorbed onto labile phases in soil, from carrier fluids and gases that transported them from a deposit to the surface (e.g. Hall etal. 1996). 

Geology appears to be the main determinant of trace-element contents and mineralogical form - as defined using selective extractions. There is no indication that landuse per se has had a significant general effect on soil trace element geochemistry. 

The factors which control the distribution of trace elements [defined arbitrarily in geochemistry as those elements present at less than 0.1 weight percent (wt %)] can be discussed under a number of headings - structural, thermodynamic, kinetic and, in the sedimentary environment, solubility and speciation. 

Although this equation reduces to an identity whenever solute-solvent interactions are embodied in the definition of the Henry s law standard state (cf section 10.2), it must be noted that K[ is the molar ratio of trace element i in the two phases and not the weight concentration ratio usually adopted in trace element geochemistry. As we will see later in this section, this double conversion (from activity ratio to molar ratio, and from molar ratio to weight concentration ratio) complicates the interpretation of natural evidence in some cases. To avoid ambiguity, we define here as conventional partition coefficients (with the same symbol K ) all mass concentration ratios, to distinguish them from molar ratios and equilibrium constants. 

Riese, W. C., Lee, M. J, Brookins, D, G, and Della Valle, R. 1978. Application of trace element geochemistry to prospecting for sandstone-type uranium deposits. In Watterson, J.R. and Theobald, R K. (ed.). Geochemical Exploration 1978, Proceedings of the Seventh International Geochemical Exploration Symposium. The Association of Exploration Geochemists, Rexdale, Ontario, Canada, 47-64. 

The historic use of trace-element geochemistry around the McArthur River Uranium Deposit has primarily focussed on a limited suite of elements, including uranium, lead, nickel, copper, and boron. At McArthur River, uranium is distributed around the main deposit to significant distances (100 s of meters) in the overlying Athabasca Group (McGill et al. 1993), yet variations in the uranium content of this halo is typically restricted to 1-3 parts per million with little spatial variation, restricting one s ability to vector... 

Whitehead, N. E., Seward, D. Veselsky, J. 1993. Mobility of trace elements and leaching rates of rhyolitic glass shards from some New Zealand tephra deposits. Applied Geochemistry, 8, 235-244. 

Meima, J. A. Comans, R. N. J. 1999. The leaching of trace elements from municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash at different stages of weathering. Applied Geochemistry, 14, 159-171. 

Many data on trace elements in coal are included in the chapter. The emphasis is on the geochemistry of the trace elements, with discussions of the concentration levels of trace elements in coals, the organic (or inorganic) affinities of the trace elements, and the geochemical controls of associations of elements. This and the following significant review article are contained within a single volume. 

Xstrom, M. and Corin, N. (2000) Abundance, sources and speciation of trace elements in humus-rich streams affected by acid sulphate soils. Aquatic Geochemistry, 6(3), 367-83. 

The various rules that were enunciated to explain element distributions and partitioning in crystal/melt systems have had a profound influence in crystal chemistry and on interpretations of trace element geochemistry. They have served as useful guiding principles for predicting mineral occurrences and explaining the locations of trace elements in crystal structures. Thus, given the ionic radius and valence of a trace element, assessments can be made of the crystal structures most likely to accommodate that element. Well-known examples include... 

Very few studies have dealt with the temporal variations of trace metals in the large rivers (Shiller and Boyle 1987b, Seyler and Elbaz-Poulichet 1996). The trace metal variability of the Amazon River is of interest for various reasons, including (1) the river s importance as a major source of dissolved and particulate substances to the Atlantic ocean, (2) as a case study for furthering the understanding of trace element geochemistry in a major fluvial system, and (3) as an evaluation of the potential contamination of the river waters. 

Ernst W. G. and Ottonello G. (1984) Synthesis of trace element geochemistry for five western Alpine Iherzolites. Ofioliti 9, 425-442. 

Jones J. H. and Burnett D. S. (1987) Experimental geochemistry of Pu and Sm and the thermodynamics of trace-element partitioning. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 51, 769-782. 

Brenan J. M., Shaw H. F., Ryerson F. L, and Phinney D. L. (1995) Mineral-aqueous fluid partitioning of trace elements at 900 °C and 2.0 GPa constraints on the trace element geochemistry of mantle and deep crustal fluids. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 59, 3331-3350. 

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