@article{10272/25128,
year = {2024},
month = {6},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25128},
abstract = {The geochemistry of the Ría de Huelva estuary (Spain) has been widely studied owing to its unique conditions
due to mixing of acid mine drainage (AMD), river water and seawater, which have been aggravated by the
existence of an adjacent phosphate fertilizer plant and its associated phosphogypsum stack.
To better understand the complex geochemistry of the overall estuarine system, we make use of (1) measured
concentrations of relevant trace elements (rare earth elements (REEs) and metal(loid)s) in the sediments and
waters of the estuary and (2) geochemical modeling which combines mixing and adsorption processes.
Our study sheds light on the elemental distribution in the sediments and water in the water-mixing area. As
seawater neutralizes the acidity of the river water (pH increases to 6.2) colloids of Fe- and Aloxyhydroxysulphates
(schwertmannite and basaluminite, respectively) precipitate as concentrations of
aqueous Fe and Al increase. These phases have a high adsorption capacity and play a critical role in the
geochemistry of the aquatic system by retaining Cu, Pb, Cr, As, P, REEs and smaller amounts of Zn, Co, Ni and
Mn. The geochemical model reproduces the behaviour of the aqueous REEs, requiring high S/L ratios at pH ≥ 3.5
and participation of sediments and colloids in the reactions to match the field data.
The evaluation of the effect of the adjacent phosphogypsum stack on the estuarine geochemistry shows that
the stack has a notorious impact on the geochemistry of the surrounding estuarine environment owing to the
release of high quantities of phosphate.},
organization = {This work is part of the CGL2017-82331-R, PID2020-119196RB-C21 and PID2020-119196RB-C22 projects funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/, with contribution of FEDER funds, and by the 2021SGR00308 project funded by the Catalan Government. IDAEA-CSIC is a Severo Ochoa Center of Research Excellence (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project CEX2018-000794-S). We would like to acknowledge the technical assistance of N. Moreno, J. Bellés, R. Batrolí and M. Cabanas (IDAEA-CSIC) and Léa Causse (AETE-ISO platform, OSU OREME, University of Montpellier). We also thank the editor (Dr. Karen H. Johannesson) and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped us to improve the quality of the manuscript.},
publisher = {Elsevier},
title = {Distribution of trace and rare earth elements in the estuary of Ría de Huelva (SW Spain): Field data and geochemical modeling},
doi = {10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122208},
author = {Gutiérrez León, Joan and Millán Becerro, Ricardo and Carrero Romero, Sergio and Pérez López, Rafael and Ceballos, Elina and Freydier, Rémi and Soler Matamala, Josep Maria and Cama, J.},
}