Phosphorus in sediments — speciation and analysis

Abstract

Characterization of sediment phosphorus is commonly based on sequential chemical extractions, in which phosphorus is supposed to be selectively removed from different compounds in the sediments. The first extraction schemes were designed to quantify discrete chemical or mineralogical compounds. As extraction schemes have been tested on different sediments, several systematic errors have been detected and the schemes have been modified and simplified accordingly. Other chemical extractions or treatments have attempted to determine phosphorus bound to particles with a certain strength or binding energy, the purpose being to determine the labile, loosely bound, exchangeable, mobile or algal-available fraction of sediment phosphorus. All extraction procedures yield operationally defined fractions and cannot be used for identification of discrete phosphorus compounds. The many methodological modifications make it necessary to be cautious when comparing results from the literature in this field.

Geochemical and mineralogical investigation of domestic archaeological soil features at the Tiel-Passewaaij site, The Netherlands

“…These results are difficult to interpret, since knowledge of Ca-phases extracted by CDB is limited. It has been reported however that CDB is able to dissolve some Ca-P phases (Pettersson et al, 1988;Jensen et al, 1998).…”

Water and sediment quality in Qinghai Lake, China: a revisit after half a century

“…All the analysis was performed following standard protocols (SEPA 2002) Sediment samples were lyophilized, sieved to <2 mm, digested at 450°C in a muffle furnace for 3 h, and analyzed for TP following the methods described in Paludan and Jensen (1995). Phosphorus fractions in the surface sediment samples were extracted according to the sequential fractionation methods described in Hupfer et al (1995) and Pettersson et al (1988). These methods allow phosphorus to be fractionated into loosely sorbed phosphorus (NH 4 Cl-P), reductant soluble phosphorus (BD-P), metal oxide-bound phosphorus (NaOH-SRP), organic phosphorus (NaOH-NRP), calcium-bound phosphorus (HCl-P), and residual phosphorus (RP).…”

“…The HCl-P and RP combined account for over 85 % of the TP in the surface sediment. The HCl-P represents P bound to carbonates, apatite phosphorus, and traces of hydrolyzable organic P, while RP consists of organic and other refractory phosphorus (Hupfer et al 1995;Pettersson et al 1988). Both fractions are relatively stable and contribute to the permanent burial of P in the sediment (Kaiserli et al 2002).…”

Evaluation of phosphorus bioavailability in sediments of three contrasting lakes in China and the UK

“…With the enrichment of phosphorus in lake sediments, forms of phosphorus in lake sediments have been increasingly investigated and its potential bioavailability has met with growing interest. Methods for the fractionation of phosphorus have been well documented (Pettersson et al, 1988;Psenner, 1988;Ruttenberg, 1992;Barbanti, 1994). In view of the potential importance of the bioavailability of phosphorus Chemosphere 42 (2001) 221±225 accumulated in sur®cial sediments, we reviewed the available literature on chemical extractable phosphorus and analysed bioavailability of phosphorus in sediments of West Lake and Lake Tai in China (NTB, 1996;Zhou and Zhu, 1999) and Lough Erne in Northern Ireland (Gibson, 1998).…”