Abstract
Flow centrifugation at an acceleration of 18 000 X gravity of surface water samples of Esthwaite Water separates the iron into two fractions, the sediment (A) and the supernatant (B). The amounts of iron in A and B are approximately equal (40–60%) except during, and for a few months after, the annual overturn. At this time there is a large increase in the total iron concentration, the extra iron being found in fraction A.
Electron microscopic examination and microprobe analysis of fraction A collected at times other than the overturn period show that the most prevalent form of iron in this fraction is amorphous iron (III) oxide. The oxide consists of approximately spherical, ellipsoidal or cylindrical particles, hardly any of which have a dimension >0.5 μm. In the lake, sedimentation of iron probably requires the particles to flocculate either by self-association or by association with other particulate matter. The particles contain highly variable amounts of Ca, also Si, P and S, and probably humic substances.
Kinetic analyses of Fe (III) species, carried out by measuring rates of formation of Fe3+ on treatment with acid, show that fraction A contains a single slow-reacting species which can be equated with the amorphous iron oxide. Fraction B contains this species also, together with a component which reacts about 30 times faster, and which comprised approximately 15% of the iron in an unconcentrated surface water sample. The nature of the fast-reacting component is not clear. Possibly it consists of small unaged oxide polymers; alternatively it might be composed of iron-organic complexes.
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Tipping, E., Woof, C., Ohnstad, M. (1982). Forms of iron in the oxygenated waters of Esthwaite Water, U.K.. In: Sly, P.G. (eds) Sediment/Freshwater Interaction. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8009-9_38
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8009-9_38
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