Antimony in the environment: a review focused on natural waters: I. Occurrence

Antimony in the environment: A review focused on natural waters. III. Microbiota relevant interactions

Trace element inputs into soils by anthropogenic activities and implications for human health.

It is now possible to formulate diagnostic selenium concentrations in four distinct ecosystem-level components; water, food-chain, predatory fish (consuming fish or invertebrate prey), and aquatic birds. Waterborne selenium concentrations of 2 µg/l or greater (parts per billion; total recoverable basis in 0.45 μ filtered samples) should be considered hazardous to the health and long-term survival of fish and wildlife populations due to the high potential for food-chain bioaccumulation, dietary toxicity, and reproductive effects. In some cases, ultra-trace amounts of dissolved and particulate organic selenium may lead to bioaccumulation and toxicity even when total waterborne concentrations are less than 1 µg/l.

Guidelines for evaluating selenium data from aquatic monitoring and assessment studies.

Arsenic, selenium, boron, lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc in naturally contaminated rocks: A review of their sources, modes of enrichment, mechanisms of release, and mitigation strategies.

Partition factors have been calculated to describe the distribution of 38 elements between slag, total fly ash, atmospherically emitted fly ash, and vapors for a coal fired steamplant. These factors have been generalized to other types of boilers, to calculate the annual U.S. discharge of trace elements due to coal combustion for power production. The magnitude of trace element mobilization by coal combustion is compared with industrial consumption of trace elements, and with estimates of their natural mobilization by weathering. Elemental flows due to coal consumption are never less than 1.5% of their weathering mobilization, and coal combustion introduces As, Co, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sc, Se, U, V, and Zn into the environment at rates comparable to their rates of introduction by weathering.

Newell E. Bolton

Papers

Trace element discharges from coal combustion for power production