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Hydrogen Cyanide Accumulation and Transformations in Non-polluted Salt Marsh Sediments

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Abstract

While cyanide is known to be produced by many organisms, including plants, bacteria, algae, fungi and some animals, it is generally thought that high levels of cyanide in aquatic systems require anthropogenic sources. Here, we report accumulation of relatively high levels of cyanide in non-polluted salt marsh sediments (up to 230 μmol kg−1). Concentrations of free cyanide up to 1.92 μmol L−1, which are toxic to aquatic life, were detected in the pore-waters. Concentration of total (free and complexed) cyanide in the pore-waters was up to 6.94 μmol L−1. Free cyanide, which is released to the marsh sediments, is attributed to processes associated with decomposition of cord grass, Spartina alterniflora, roots and possibly from other sources. This cyanide is rapidly complexed with iron and adsorbed on sedimentary organic matter. The ultimate cyanide sink is, however, associated with formation of thiocyanate by reaction with products of sulfide oxidation by Fe(III) minerals, especially polysulfides. The formation of thiocyanate by this pathway detoxifies two poisonous compounds, polysulfides and hydrogen cyanide, preventing release of free hydrogen cyanide from salt marsh sediments into overlying water or air.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Max Planck Society (T.G.F. and A.K.), Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship SULFUTOPES number POIF-GA-2008-219586 (to A.K.), NSF Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry Program grant number: 0843814 (to A. K., JF and Z.F.M.) and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (J.F.). The authors would like to thank George W. Luther and Andrew Madison (University of Delaware) for assistance during sampling of Delaware Great Marsh. The authors are grateful to Donald E. Canfield and Daniel L. Eldridge for valuable comments on the manuscript. The revised manuscript benefited by the comments of two anonymous reviewers and the Associated Editor David J. Burdige.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    A. Kamyshny Jr., H. Oduro, Z. F. Mansaray & J. Farquhar

  2. Department of Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsuisstrasse 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    A. Kamyshny Jr.

  3. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel

    A. Kamyshny Jr.

  4. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    H. Oduro

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  1. A. Kamyshny Jr.
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Correspondence to A. Kamyshny Jr..

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Kamyshny, A., Oduro, H., Mansaray, Z.F. et al. Hydrogen Cyanide Accumulation and Transformations in Non-polluted Salt Marsh Sediments. Aquat Geochem 19, 97–113 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-012-9180-5

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