Article (refereed) -postprintTipping, E.; Lofts, S.; Sonke, J.E.. 2011. Humic Ion-Binding Model VII: a revised parameterisation of cation-binding by humic substances. Environmental Chemistry, 8 (3). 225-235. 10.1071/EN11016Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. [1,2] incorporating Humic Ion-Binding Model 55 V [3] or VI [4] permits the calculation of equilibrium chemical speciation for waters and soils in 56 which natural organic matter plays a significant role. The ion-binding models are based on 57 conventional chemical reactions involving O-containing weak acids, with empirical estimation 58 of the influence of soft ligand atoms (N, S) and electrostatic corrections, and are 59 parameterised from laboratory studies with isolated humic and fulvic acids. The NICA 60 model [5] is similarly parameterised and provides an alternative picture based on continuous 61 binding-site distributions. Tipping [2] identified both the Humic Ion-Binding Models and NICA 62 as comprehensive models, meaning that they deal with competitive interactions involving all 63 cations (including H + ), and take account of ionic strength effects and metal-proton exchange 64 ratios. They seek to represent cation-binding by the complex mixtures that comprise natural 65 organic matter as efficiently as possible, with the minimum number of parameters, in order to 66 be useful in addressing chemical processes in the environment. A different approach to 67 these parameterised models, but also potentially comprehensive, is the "forward modelling" 68 developed by Cabaniss [6] in which binding is calculated a priori from the known or assumed 69 distributed chemistry of humic substances. 70
Tipping et al. Humic Ion-Binding Model VII_REVISIONWHAM has been applied in a variety of research and regulatory areas. Examples include 71 the acidification of soils [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and surface waters [15] , trace metal behaviour in soils [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] , surface 72 waters [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and groundwaters [32] , lake sediment diagenesis [33,34] , rare earth geochemistry [35-73 37] , iron and manganese geochemistry [38][39][40][41] , radionclide geochemistry [42][43][44][45] , organic matter 74 solubility in soils [46,47] , catchment modelling [48,49] , interactions of metals with biota [50,51] , 75 ecotoxicology [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] and Critical Loads [60][61][62] . Given this evident utility, it is worthwhile to 76 continue to improve the humic ion-binding model and incorporate new data into its 77 parameterisation. Here we report on activities undertaken towards these goals, namely 78 modification of assumptions about multidentate binding, the fitting of new data, and the 79 introduction of a procedure to obtain more internally-consistent parameters. 80Changes in binding site formulation were prompte...