Estuarine flocculation dynamics of organic carbon and  metals from boreal acid sulfate soils

Virtasalo, Joonas J.; Österholm, Peter; Asmala, Eero

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2883-2023

Articles | Volume 20, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2883-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2883-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 14

Research article

|

20 Jul 2023

Research article |

| 20 Jul 2023

Estuarine flocculation dynamics of organic carbon and metals from boreal acid sulfate soils

Joonas J. Virtasalo, Peter Österholm, and Eero Asmala

Data sets

Suspension particle size, water quality and geochemical data from Laihianjoki and Sulvanjoki flocculation experiments (in review) E. Asmala, P. Österholm, and J. J. Virtasalo https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA

Short summary

We mixed acidic metal-rich river water from acid sulfate soils and seawater in the laboratory to study the flocculation of dissolved metals and organic matter in estuaries. Al and Fe flocculated already at a salinity of 0–2 to large organic flocs (>80 µm size). Precipitation of Al and Fe hydroxide flocculi (median size 11 µm) began when pH exceeded ca. 5.5. Mn transferred weakly to Mn hydroxides and Co to the flocs. Up to 50 % of Cu was associated with the flocs, irrespective of seawater mixing.