Trace elements reactions carbonate

Calcium and magnesium are the major cations (co-)precipitating trace elements as carbonate. Trace elements are also precipitated as sulfate or phosphate. Solubility and reactions of carbonates, sulfates and phosphates of selected major and trace elements are in Table 3.9. 

Particles represent important agents of transport in global ocean cycles of many trace elements, of carbon, and of other substances. Once introduced into the oceans, many trace elements are removed from seawater by scavenging (sorption, com-plexation, and other forms of surface reactions) to particles (Goldberg, 1954 Turekian, 1977). Scavenging and burial in marine sediments represents the principal loss process influencing the biogeochemical cycle of many trace elements in the ocean (Li, 1981). 

Trace elements can be adsorbed on the surface of calcite, influencing their solubility in calcareous soils of arid and semi-arid zones. The carbonate bound fraction is the major solid-phase component for many trace elements (Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni and Cu) in arid and semi-arid soils, especially in newly contaminated soils (Table 5.3). In Israeli arid soils treated with metal nitrates, the carbonate bound fraction is the largest solid-phase component (60-80%, 50-60%, 40-60%, 30-40%, and 25-36% for Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cu respectively). Divalent metallic cations at low aqueous concentrations first associate with calcite via adsorption reactions. Then they may be incorporated into the calcite lattice as a co-precipitate by recrystallization (Franklin and Morse, 1983 Komicker et al., 1985 Davis et al., 1987 Zachara et al., 1988 Reeder and Prosky, 1986 Pingitore and... 

Zinc is an essential trace element. More than 300 enzymes that require zinc ions for activity are known. Most catalyze hydrolysis reactions, but zinc-containing representatives of aU enzyme classes are known, such as, for instance, alcohol dehydrogenase (an oxidoreductase), famesyl-Zgeranyl transferase (a transferase), -lactamase (a hydrolase), carbonic anhydrase (a lyase) and phosphomannose isomerase. 

It is obvious, therefore, that 14 MeV neutron activation analysis can not compete with thermal neutron activation analysis as a technique for trace element analysis. In simple matrices, however, the rapid and non-destructive nature of the technique recommends its use for routine analysis of large numbers of samples for elemental abundances at the one milligram level, or above. It is unfortunate that the element carbon can not be determined by this technique. The nuclear reaction 12C(n, 2n)1 C which would be of great analytical importance is endoergic to the extent of nearly 19 MeV. This reaction is obviously not energetically possible using the 14.7 MeV neutrons produced by the 2H(3H,w)4He reaction commonly employed in most neutron generators. 

For solubility equilibrium to predict the aqueous concentration of a trace element, thermodynamic equilibrium is required and the solid phases must also be identified. In the case of oxyhydroxides and carbonates, it is reasonable to assume a close approach to equilibrium because the characteristic reaction times of dissolution of these minerals are in the range of a few days to a few hundred years (Bruno et al., 2002). For silicate phases the assumption of thermodynamic equilibrium is more problematic due to the low reaction rates compared to the residence time of waters in hydrosystems. Examples of codes and database used by modelers to calculate the speciation and the solubility of a number of trace elements can be found in Bruno et al. (2002). 

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