Selenium in North American paper pulps

An examination of the major anthropogenic and natural sources of atmospheric selenium indicates that approximately 13-19 x 109 g Se are cycled through the troposphere annually. Perhaps 60% of this flux is natural in origin, and both man-made and biological emissions appear to be predominantly gaseous in nature. Emissions from the marine biosphere and the combustion of coal account for 50 -65% of the total atmospheric selenium emissions, and the natural marine flux appears to be roughly twice as large as that due to coal combustion.Research Council (NRC), 1976]. A realistic assessment of the actual and potential impact of human activity on the biogeochemical cycling of selenium requires that both natural and anthropogenic source functions be quantified. The atmosphere plays and important role in the transformation and transport of both natural and anthropogenically derived selenium, but, as is the case with many substances, anthropogenic fluxes generally are much more thoroughly studied and thus easier to quantify than natural sources and sinks. This is in part because it has only recently become evident that selenium is present in the atmosphere as a gas as well as in the aerosol phase [Mosher and Duce, 1983]. The very few vapor phase measurements available have made it necessary to use indirect methods to estimate important natural fluxes such as volatile terrestrial and marine

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Selenium in North American paper pulps

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Selenium**Contribution No. 90-82 from Land Resource Research Centre.

Selenium**Contribution No. 90-82 from Land Resource Research Centre.

A global atmospheric selenium budget

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