RT Journal Article
T1 Distribution of trace and rare earth elements in the estuary of Ría de Huelva (SW Spain): Field data and geochemical modeling
A1 Gutiérrez León, Joan
A1 Millán Becerro, Ricardo
A1 Carrero Romero, Sergio
A1 Pérez López, Rafael
A1 Ceballos, Elina
A1 Freydier, Rémi
A1 Soler Matamala, Josep Maria
A1 Cama, J.
AB The geochemistry of the Ría de Huelva estuary (Spain) has been widely studied owing to its unique conditionsdue to mixing of acid mine drainage (AMD), river water and seawater, which have been aggravated by theexistence 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) measuredconcentrations of relevant trace elements (rare earth elements (REEs) and metal(loid)s) in the sediments andwaters 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. Asseawater neutralizes the acidity of the river water (pH increases to 6.2) colloids of Fe- and Aloxyhydroxysulphates(schwertmannite and basaluminite, respectively) precipitate as concentrations ofaqueous Fe and Al increase. These phases have a high adsorption capacity and play a critical role in thegeochemistry of the aquatic system by retaining Cu, Pb, Cr, As, P, REEs and smaller amounts of Zn, Co, Ni andMn. The geochemical model reproduces the behaviour of the aqueous REEs, requiring high S/L ratios at pH ≥ 3.5and 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 thatthe stack has a notorious impact on the geochemistry of the surrounding estuarine environment owing to therelease of high quantities of phosphate.
PB Elsevier
SN 0009-2541
SN 1872-6836 (electrónico)
YR 2024
FD 2024-06
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25128
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25128
LA eng
NO Gutiérrez-León, J., Millán-Becerro, R., Carrero, S., Pérez-López, R., Ceballos, E., Freydier, R., Soler, J. M., & Cama, J. (2024). Distribution of trace and rare earth elements in the estuary of Ría de Huelva (SW Spain): Field data and geochemical modeling. In Chemical Geology (Vol. 662, p. 122208). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122208
NO 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.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026