Routine analysis of sediment pore water of high ionic strength

Abstract

Pore water of sediments plays an important role in aquatic systems as mediator and as the reactive zone between the sediment and surface water. Sediment pore waters with high ionic strength from acidified pit lakes were investigated to obtain information about the influence on the lake water quality. The analysis of soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, ammonium, silica, dissolved organic carbon, ferrous iron, sulfate, chloride, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and total dissolved iron was predetermined as the dataset required for evaluation of water quality. The data collection procedure was optimised by designing a methodology for stabilisation, dilution of pore water samples and adaptation of analytical methods. The developed methodology was evaluated with respect to the effort required in the laboratory under routine conditions. In the first round of analyses, 72% of 638 individual analyses from a random selection of pore water profiles were found to be within the calibration ranges. Remedial actions to handle the remaining 28% of invalid analytical results are exemplified. Differences between comparative analyses of some ions by continuous flow analysis, ion chromatography, and atomic emission spectroscopy were evaluated. The majority of results measured by ion chromatography differed on a highly significant level from results measured by atomic emission spectroscopy. Possible reasons, originating from the extreme sample matrix, are discussed. Finally, the designed methodology and the results of the method comparison are used to recommend the selection of analytical methods under specific conditions.

Microbial iron reduction during passive in situ remediation of an acidic mine pit lake mesocosm

“…pyrite) and elemental sulfur were determined polarographically according to Frömmichen et al (2004). Porewater was obtained by centrifugation under an oxygen-free atmosphere and processed as described in Herzsprung et al (2006). Iron in sediments (further referred to as reactive Fe) was determined in triplicate following a modification of Lovley and Phillips' (1987) protocol.…”

A practical approach to lake water density from electrical conductivity and temperature

“…Bicarbonate and carbonate were calculated based on acidity, alkalinity and pH using PHREEQC (Parkhust and Appelo, 1999). , 1996;Herzsprung, et al, 2005), ammonium (NH + 4 ) (Krom, 1980;DIN_EN_ISO_11732, 1997), and silicate (Si(OH) 4 ) (Smith and Milne, 1981) were measured by continuous flow analysis (CFA, Skalar, the Netherlands) (Herzsprung et al, 2006). Fluoride (F − ) and borate (B(OH) − 4 ) were not included into the analyses because they usually are not relevant for density in typical freshwater lakes.…”

Influence of bioturbation on the biogeochemistry of littoral sediments of an acidic post-mining pit lake

“…Five different water samples were also collected when the aforementioned measurements were taken for analyses of (i) total iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) concentrations by ICP-OES, (ii) ammonium (NH + 4 ), silica and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) by continuous flow analysis (CFA), (iii) sulfate (SO 2− 4 ) by single column ion chromatography (Herzsprung et al, 2006) and (iv) total phosphorus (TP) by photometry (ISO 6878:2004(ISO 6878: , 2004). …”