The chemical composition of natural water is derived from many different sources of solutes, including gases and aerosols from the atmosphere, weathering and erosion of rocks and soil, solution or precipitation reactions occurring below the land surface, and cultural effects resulting from human activities. Broad interrelationships among these processes and their effects can be discerned by application of principles of chemical thermodynamics. Some of the processes of solution or precipitation of minerals can be closely evaluated by means of principles of chemical equilibrium, including the law of mass action and the Nernst equation. Other processes are irreversible and require consideration of reaction mechanisms and rates. The chemical composition of the crustal rocks of the Earth and the composition of the ocean and the atmosphere are significant in evaluating sources of solutes in natural freshwater. The ways in which solutes are taken up or precipitated and the amounts present in solution are influenced by many environmental factors, especially climate, structure and position of rock strata, and biochemical effects associated with life cycles of plants and animals, both microscopic and macroscopic. Taken together and in application with the further influence of the general circulation of all water in the hydrologic cycle, the chemical principles and environmental factors form a basis for the developing science of natural-water chemistry. Fundamental data used in the determination of water quality are obtained by the chemical analysis of water samples in the laboratory or onsite sensing of chemical properties in the field. Sampling is complicated by changes in the composition of moving water and by the effects of particulate suspended material. Some constituents are unstable and require onsite determination or sample preservation. Most of the constituents determined are reported in gravimetric units, usually milligrams per liter or milliequivalents

Study and Interpretation of the Chemical Characteristics of Natural Water

The major source of cloud-condensation nuclei (CCN) over the oceans appears to be dimethylsulphide, which is produced by planktonic algae in sea water and oxidizes in the atmosphere to form a sulphate aerosol Because the reflectance (albedo) of clouds (and thus the Earth's radiation budget) is sensitive to CCN density, biological regulation of the climate is possible through the effects of temperature and sunlight on phytoplankton population and dimethylsulphide production. To counteract the warming due to doubling of atmospheric CO2, an approximate doubling of CCN would be needed.

Oceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate

This book is written as a reference on organic substances in natural waters and as a supplementary text for graduate students in water chemistry. The chapters address five topics: amount, origin, nature, geochemistry, and characterization of organic carbon. Of these topics, the main themes are the amount and nature of dissolved organic carbon in natural waters (mainly fresh water, although seawater is briefly discussed). It is hoped that the reader is familiar with organic chemistry, but it is not necessary. The first part of the book is a general overview of the amount and general nature of dissolved organic carbon. Over the past 10 years there has been an exponential increase in knowledge on organic substances in water, which is the result of money directed toward the research of organic compounds, of new methods of analysis (such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry), and most importantly, the result of more people working in this field. Because of this exponential increase in knowledge, there is a need to pull together and summarize the data that has accumulated from many disciplines over the last decade.

Organic geochemistry of natural waters

Over the past decade it has become apparent that the atmosphere is a significant pathway for the transport of many natural and pollutant materials from the continents to the ocean. The atmospheric input of many of these species can have an impact (either positive or negative) on biological processes in the sea and on marine chemical cycling. For example, there is now evidence that the atmosphere may be an important transport path for such essential nutrients as iron and nitrogen in some regions. In this report we assess current data in this area, develop global scale estimates of the atmospheric fluxes of trace elements, mineral aerosol, nitrogen species, and synthetic organic compounds to the ocean; and compare the atmospheric input rates of these substances to their input via rivers. Trace elements considered were Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, As, Hg, Sn, Al, Fe, Si, and P. Oxidized and reduced forms of nitrogen were considered, including nitrate and ammonium ions and the gaseous species NO, NO2, HNO3, and NH3. Synthetic organic compounds considered included polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), DDTs, chlordane, dieldrin, and hexachlorobenzenes (HCBs). Making this assessment was difficult because there are very few actual measurements of deposition rates of these substances to the ocean. However, there are considerably more data on the atmospheric concentrations of these species in aerosol and gaseous form. Mean concentration data for 10° × 10° ocean areas were determined from the available concentration data or from extrapolation of these data into other regions. These concentration distributions were then combined with appropriate exchange coefficients and precipitation fields to obtain the global wet and dry deposition fluxes. Careful consideration was given to atmospheric transport processes as well as to removal mechanisms and the physical and physicochemical properties of aerosols and gases. Only annual values were calculated. On a global scale atmospheric inputs are generally equal to or greater than riverine inputs, and for most species atmospheric input to the ocean is significantly greater in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. For dissolved trace metals in seawater, global atmospheric input dominates riverine input for Pb, Cd, and Zn, and the two transport paths are roughly equal for Cu, Ni, As, and Fe. Fluxes and basin-wide deposition of trace metals are generally a factor of 5-10 higher in the North Atlantic and North Pacific regions than in the South Atlantic and South Pacific. Global input of oxidized and reduced nitrogen species are roughly equal to each other, although the major fraction of oxidized nitrogen enters the ocean in the northern hemisphere, primarily as a result of pollution sources. Reduced nitrogen species are much more uniformly distributed, suggesting that the ocean itself may be a significant source. The global atmospheric input of such synthetic organic species as HCH,PCBs, DDT, and HCB completely dominates their input via rivers.

The atmospheric input of trace species to the world ocean

Superoxide ion (O2•–) is of great significance as a radical species implicated in diverse chemical and biological systems. However, the chemistry knowledge of O2•– is rather scarce. In addition, numerous studies on O2•– were conducted within the latter half of the 20th century. Therefore, the current advancement in technology and instrumentation will certainly provide better insights into mechanisms and products of O2•– reactions and thus will result in new findings. This review emphasizes the state-of-the-art research on O2•– so as to enable researchers to venture into future research. It comprises the main characteristics of O2•– followed by generation methods. The reaction types of O2•– are reviewed, and its potential applications including the destruction of hazardous chemicals, synthesis of organic compounds, and many other applications are highlighted. The O2•– environmental chemistry is also discussed. The detection methods of O2•– are categorized and elaborated. Special attention is given to the f...

Superoxide Ion: Generation and Chemical Implications

A rapid increase in the concentration of hydrogen peroxide was observed when samples of natural surface and ground water from various locations in the United States were exposed to sunlight. The hydrogen peroxide is photochemically generated from organic constituents present in the water; humic materials are believed to be the primary agent producing the peroxide. Studies with superoxide dismutase suggest that the superoxide anion is the precursor of the peroxide.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/220/4598/711.full.pdf

Photochemical formation of hydrogen peroxide in surface and ground waters exposed to sunlight.

The oxidation of Fe(II) and Cu(I) and the reduction of Fe(III) and Cu(II) by hydrogen peroxide in sea water have been studied to understand their mechanisms and probable significance in the upper marine water column. At 10/sup -7/ M H/sub 2/O/sub 2/, a level commonly found in surface sea water, reaction with H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ is the dominant oxidation pathway for Fe(II). Reduction of Fe(III) by peroxide was not observed in the pH range 7-8. Reduction of Cu(II) and oxidation of Cu(I) by H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ contribute to a dynamic redox cycling of that element in the upper water column. Calculations based on these data indicate that CU(I) oxidation and FE(II) oxidation by H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ are at least as important as nitrite photolysis as a source of OH radicals in the ocean. 47 references, 6 figures, 2 tables.

Reaction kinetics of hydrogen peroxide with copper and iron in seawater.

Photochemistry of natural waters

Hydrogen peroxide is formed in most natural waters when they are exposed to sunlight. The rate at which H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ accumulates is related to the concentration of light-absorbing (>295 nm) organic substances in these waters. The photochemical accumulation rate of H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ in sunlight has been measured for several surface waters and ground waters and was found to be 2.7 /times/ 10/sup /minus/7/ to 48 /times/ 10/sup /minus/7/ mol L/sup /minus/1/ h/sup /minus/1/, in waters ranging from 0.53 to 18 mgL/sup -1/ dissolved organic carbon (DOC), respectively. These rates were determined in midday sunlight, 0.4 W m/sup /minus/2/ (295-385 nm), latitude 24.3/degrees/ N. Apparent quantum yields of H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ have been determined for natural waters at different wavelengths. These quantum yields decreased with increasing wavelength, from 10/sup /minus/3/ in the near-ultraviolet to 10/sup /minus/6/ in the visible spectral range. The quantum yields have been used in a photochemical model to calculate H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ accumulation rates of natural water samples. Model calculations agree with H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ accumulation rates obtained from exposing three different water samples to sunlight.

Rod G. Zika

Papers

Photochemical formation of hydrogen peroxide in surface and ground waters exposed to sunlight.

Reaction kinetics of hydrogen peroxide with copper and iron in seawater.

Photochemistry of natural waters

Photochemical formation of hydrogen peroxide in natural waters exposed to sunlight.

Sunlight-Induced Photochemistry of Humic Substances in Natural Waters: Major Reactive Species