Mineralization Mississippi River

Coal deposits from east of the Mississippi River generally have acidic mineral constituents, ie, they are richer in siUca and alumina and tend to produce higher melting ash mixtures. These materials do not soften until above 1000°C and have limited problems with deposition on the inside walls of the boiler (slagging) or on the superheater tubes inside the boiler (fouling). 

The amount of particulate matter varies from very high values in silt carrying rivers (the Mississippi River carries an average of 2600 mg/liter at flood time) to practically zero (0.05 mg/liter ref. 17) in the ocean. A typical value may be 1-10 mg/liter. The mineral particles often consist of clay with ion exchange properties. 

River transport of clay minerals into the ocean is spatially and temporally variable. The global annual suspended load of river sediment into coastal waters currently averages 12.6 X 10 ton. This flux is approximately 10% less than was delivered before humans began damming rivers. (One notable exception is the Mississippi River, whose sediment load has increased due to very high rates of soil erosion. The riverine sediments deposited in the mouth of the Mississippi River form one of the world s largest deltas.)... 

Four coals were selected for process evaluation whose sulfur form distribution is typical of coals east of the Mississippi River and which represent major U.S. coal beds Pittsburgh, Lower Kittanning, Illinois No 5, and Herrin No. 6. The Pittsburgh bed has been described as the most valuable individual mineral deposit in the United States and perhaps in the world. Its production accounts for approximately 35%. of the total cumulative production of the Appalachian bituminous coal basin to January 1, 1965 and 21% of the total cumulative production of the United States to that date (5). The Lower Sattanning bed together with its correlative beds contains even larger reserves than the Pittsburgh seam. The No. 5 bed is the most widespread and commercially valuable coal bed in... 

Rates (gm 2year ) of Mineral and Organic Matter Accumulation in Inland Marshes of the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain... 

A series of diversion projects have been implemented to reintroduce freshwater and sediment from the Mississippi River into Louisiana coastal wetlands (Figure 18.9). A recent study examined the impact of Mississippi River freshwater diversion on enhancing vertical marsh accretion (mineral and organic matter accumulation) in Breton Sound estuary, a coastal wetland experiencing marsh deterioration as a result of subsidence and saltwater intrusion (DeLaune et al., 2003). The Caernarvon diversion has positively impacted marsh accretion in Brenton Sound estuary helping to slow or reverse wetland loss. Several hundred hectares of new marsh have been created by the introduction of Mississippi River water into the system (Villarrubia, 1998). 

Khalid, R. A., R. P. Gambrell, and W. H. Patrick, Jr. 1978. Chemical transformations of cadmium and zinc in Mississippi River sediments as influenced by pH and redox potential. In D. C. Adriano and I. L. Brisbin, Jr. (eds.) Environmental Chemistry and Cycling Processes. Department of Energy, Symp. Ser. 45 417-433. Tech. Info. Center, U.S. Department of Energy. Proc. 2nd Mineral Cycling Symp., May 1, 1976. 

Nyman, J. A., R. D. DeLaune, and W. H. Patrick, Jr. 1990. Wetland soil formation in the rapidly subsiding Mississippi River deltaic plain mineral and organic matter relationships. Estuar. Coastal Shelf Sci. 31 57-69. 

Selenium. It has been reported that the region of the United States where the crops have the highest content of this mineral (roughly, an area lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains) have the lowest incidence of deaths from heart disease. ... 

Alluvial soils of the Mississippi River plain have been studied by de Mumbrum and Bruce [I960]. The main minerals in these soils are montmorillonite, mica, kaolinite, quartz, and some amorphous material with occasional chlorite, and interstratified montmorillonite-vermiculite was found at 54 in. (1.37 m) depths in fine silt. 

The mineralogy of the suspended matter carried by rivers is not well documented. There are numerous analyses either of the clay fraction or of sands carried by rivers, but only a few total quantitative analyses are reported in the literature. As examples, the average mineralogical composition of two large river systems, the Amazon and the Mississippi, are presented in Table 9.9. This table also includes the mean mineralogical composition of shales for comparison with river suspended sediments. The overall average of 300 samples of shales analyzed by Shaw and Weaver (1965) is 30.8% quartz, 4.5% feldspar, 60.9% clay minerals, and... 

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